la 


.Ct.-n^^^4^'-^'  ^ 


RUBE     BURROW. 


RUBE    BURROW, 


King  of  Outlaws, 


BAND  OF  TRAIN  ROBBERSy 


AN  ACCURATE  AND   FAITHFUL  HISTORY  OF  THEIR 
EXPLOITS  AND  ADVENTURES. 


BY 

G.  W.  AGEE, 

Soparintendent  Western  Division  Southern  Expicss  Comoany. 


PUBLISHKItS 

THE  HENNEBERRY  COMPANT 

CHICAGO 


aLSSPKCTPULLY    DSDICATSS 

BY  THJ3  AUTHOR 

TO  HIS  COMaA£>£S  AND  CO-WORIU$R6 

nf  THfi  SXPRESS  SERVICS 

OF  AMKRICA. 


"  Some  hapless  souls  are  led  astraj', 
While  some,  themselves,  seek  out  the  way. 
Some  fall,  unthinking,  in  the  pit. 
While  others  seek  about  for  it. 

'Tis  probable,  if  Satan  should 
Strive  for  the  universal  good, 
And  close  his  gates  and.  bar  them  well, 
Some  souls  would  still  break  into  Hell." 


PREFACE. 

OINCE  the  days  of  the  James  and  Younger 
brothers,  bold  types  of  Western  outlawry, 
which 'were  the  'immediate  products  of  the  late 
civil  war,  no  banditti  have  challenged  s"iich  uiii- 
versal  attention  as  those  led  by  the  famous  out- 
law, Rube  Burrow.  The  press  of  the  country 
has  woven,  from  the  wildest  woof  of  fancy,  full 
many  a  fiction  touching  his  daring  deeds,  and 
manufacturers  of  sensational  literature  have  made 
of  the  bandit  as  mystical  a  genius  as  the  "Head- 
less Hessian  of  Sleepy  Hollow." 

With  the  view  of  correcting  the  erroneous  ac- 
counts heretofore  given  the  public,  I  have  yielded 
to  the  solicitations  of  many  friends  in  the  Express 
service  and  consented  to  give  a  faithful  and  accu- 
rate history,  compiled  from  the  official  reports  of 
the  detectives,  detailing  the  daring  deeds,  the 
thrilling  scenes  and  hair-breadth  escapes  of  the 
outlaw  and  his  band  of  highwaymen.     Important 


eonfeftsions  of  some  of  the  principal  participanta 
in  the  eight  train  robberies  committed,  covering 
a  period  of  nearly  four  years,  are  also  given,  with- 
ont  color  of  fiction  or  the  caprice  of  fancy. 

It  is  the  province  of  this  volume,  therefore, 
not  to  laud  evil  endeavor,  but  rather  to  chronicle 
the  hapless  fate  of  those  who,  turning  aside  from 
the  paths  of  peace  and  honor,  elect  to  tread  the 
<devious  and  thorny  road  which  leads  on  to  the 
open  gateway,  over  which  is  emblazoned,  .n  setters 
of  living  fire,  the  accursed  malediction,  "  All  hope 
abandon,  ye  who  enter  here." 

G.  W.  Agee. 

Memphis y  Tenn.y  December^  rSoo. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  I. 

'^4laltr  County,  Alabama — The  Home  of  th^  3uitow 
Family — Biographical  Sketch  of  Rube  Burrow's 
Ancestors i 

Chapter  li. 

Xube  Leaves  Lamar  County,  Alabama — His  Early  Life 
in  the  Lone  Star  State — His  Brother  Jim  Joins 
Him — The  Bellevue,  Gordon  and  Ben  Brook, 
Texas,  Train  Robberies S 

Chapter  III. 

The  Genoa,  Ark.,  Robbery,  December  9,  1887 — Arrest 
of  William  Brock — His  Confession 19 

Chapter  IV. 

The  Pinkertons  After  Rube  and  Jim  Burrow  in  Lamar 
County — Their  Narrow  Escape ij 

Chapter  V. 

Rube  and  Jim  Board  an  L.  &  N.  Railway  Train  at 
Brock's  Gap — Their  Arrest  and  the  Subsequent 
Escape  of  Rube ji 


vm  CONTENTS. 

Chapter  VI. 

Rttbe  Burrow  Returns  to  Lamar  County — ^Joe  Jackson 
J0-.4S  Him  in  March,  1888 — Their  Trip  into  Bald- 
win County,  Alabama 38 

Chapter  VII. 

The  Ride  into  Arkansas  to  Liberate  Jim  Burrow — 
Failure  and  Return  to  Mississippi 12 

Chapter  VIII. 

Rube  Burrow  and  Joe  Jackson  Leave  Arkansas — They 
Turn  up  as  Cotton  Pickers  in  Tate  County, 
Mississippi 45 

Chapter  IX. 

Jim  Burrow  Arraigned. — Trial  Postponed — His  Return 
to  Little  Rock  Prison — Letters  Home — His  Death 
in  Prison 4g 

Chapter  X. 

The  Duck  Hill,  Miss.,  Robbery— The  Killing  of  Pas- 
senger Chester  Hughes 54- 

Chapter  XI. 

The  Cold-blooded  Murder  of  Moses  Graves,  the  Post- 
master of  Jewell,  Alabama 61 

Chapter  XII. 

Smith  Joins  Rube  Burrow  and  Joe  Jackson — The 
Buckatunna  Robbery 68 


CON'MmTS.  IX 

Chapter  XIII. 

PAGS 

The  Capture  or  Rube  Smith  and  James  McClung  at 
Amory,  Miss. — McClung's  Confession — A  Plan  to 
Rob  the  Train  Falls  Through— A  Safe  Robbery 
Nipped  in  the  Bud .    82 

Chapter  XIV. 

A  False  Alarm— The  Ox-cart  Trip  to  Florida— The 
•  Separation — Rube  L^ocated  at  Broxton  Ferry — His 
Escape 91 

Chapter- XV. 
Capture  of  Joe  Jackson 104 

Chapter  XVI. 

Confession  of  I^eonard  Calvert  Brock,  alias  Joe  Jack- 
son, made  at  Memphis,  Tenn.,  July  19,  1890,  and 
Corrected  and  Amended  at  Jackson,  Miss.,  Octo- 
ber 16,  1890 .  107 

Chapter  XVII. 

Rube  Smith's  Plot  to  Escape  from  Prison — His  Plans 

Discovered — The  Tell-tale  Ivetters 136 

Chapter  XVIII. 

Rube  Burrow  Harbored  in  Santa  Rosa — The  Flomaton 

Robbery 142 

Chapter  XIX. 

Rube  Routed  from  Florida — The  Chase  into  Marengo 
Cotuity,  Ala. — His  Capture     151 


X   ^  CONTENTS. 

Chapter  XX. 

Rube's  Last  Desperate  Act — Escape  from  Jail — The 
Deadly  Duel  on  the  Streets  of  Linden — ^The  Out- 
law Killed 164 

Chapter  XXL 

Tragic  Suicide  of  L.  C.  Brock,  alias  Joe  Jackson — He 
Leaps  from  the  Fourth  Story  of  the  Prison  into 
the  Open  Court,  Sixty  Feet  Below,  Causing  In- 
stant Death — His  Last  Statement      176 

Chapter  XXH. 

Rube  Smith's  Trial  for  the  Buckatunna  Mail  Robbery 
— An  Unsuccessful  Alibi — Perjured  Witnesses — 
Mastferly  Speeches — Conviction  and  Sentence   .   .185 

Chapter  XXIII. 
Conclusion 191 


RUBE  BURROW. 


CHAPTER  I. 

LAMAR  COUNTY,  ALABAMA — THE  HOME  OP  THE  BURROW 
FAMILY — BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OE  RUBE  BURROW'* 
ANCESTORS. 

T  AMAR  County,  Alabama,  the  home  of  the  Bur- 
"^  row  family,  has  become  historic  as  the  lair  of 
a  robber  band  whose  deeds  of  daring  have  had  no 
parallel  in  modem  times,  and  the  halo  of  romance 
with  which  that  locality  has  been  invested  has 
converted  its  rugged  hills  into  mountain  fastnesses, 
its  quiet  vales  into  dark  caverns,  and  the  humble 
abode*  of  its  inhabitants  into  turreted  fortresses 
and  robber  castles.  The  county  of  Lamar,  divested 
of  the  drapery  of  sensationalism,  is  one  of  the  "hill 
counties"  of  northern  Alabama,  and  takes  high  rank 
in  the  list  of  rich  agricultural  counties  of  the  State. 
It  possesses  a  charming  landscape  of  undulating 
hill  and  dale,  watered  by  limpid  streams,  and  amid 
fertile  valleys  and  on  the  crests  of  its  picturesque 
uplands  are  found  the  peaceful  and  prosperous 
homes  of  many  good  and  law-abiding  people,  thus 
proTing  that  good  people  are  indigenous  to  every 

X 


2  RUBS   BURROW. 

clime  and  land  where  the  hand  of  civilization  has 
left  its  kindly  touch.  "  It  does  not  abound  in  grand 
and  sublime  prospects,  but  rather  in  little  home 
scenes  of  rural  repose  and  sheltered  quiet." 

Lamar  County  was  formed  in  1868  from  the 
most  fertile  portions  of  Fayette  and  Marion  Coun- 
ties, and  has  changed  its  name  three  times ;  first 
it  was  called  Jones,  then  Sanford,  and,  finally,  it 
was  named  Lamar,  in  honor  of  the  distinguished 
statesman  and  jurist  who  now  adorns  the  bench  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  This  sec- 
tion of  the  State,  though  not  until  the  last  decade 
possessed  of  the  advantages  of  development  which 
more  fortunate  sections  have  long  enjoyed,  has  al- 
ways had  an  excellent  citizenship.  Here,  in  the 
olden  time,  were  found  ardent  followers  of  the 
political  faith  of  the  founders  of  the  Republic,  and' 
while  the  bonfires  of  the  zealous  pioneers  of  that 
day  and  time  lighted  the  hill  tops,  the  valleys  of 
that  section  of  northern  Alabama  reverberated  with 
the  campaign  songs  of  their  enthusiastic  compatri- 
ots. From  this  section,  no  less  renowned  in  war 
than  in  peace,  a  large  company  of  soldiers  was  sent 
to  the  Creek  war,  and  a  full  quota  of  gallant  men 
went  forth  to  the  Confederate  army,  three  compa- 
nies of  which  were  in  the  Twenty-sixth  Alabama 
Infantry,  one  of  the  most  superb  regiments  in  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia. 

This  much,  in  truth  and  justice,  should  be  said 
in  behalf  of  Lamar  County,  which  has  gained  an 


RUBE  BURROW.  3 

unenviable  notoriety  as  the  birthplace  of  Rube  Bur- 
row, and  later  as  the  rendezvous  of  his  confreres 
in  crime.  When  metropolitan  places,  with  well- 
equipped  police  powers,  give  birth  to  such  social 
organizations  as  the  anarchists  in  Chicago  and  the 
Italian  Mafia  in  New  Orleans,  and  become  asylums 
for  organized  assassins,  the  good  people  of  these 
cities  are  no  more  responsible  for  the  resultant 
evils  than  are  the  law-abiding  people  of  Lamar 
County,  Alabama,  for  the  deeds  of  outlawry  of 
which  one  of  her  citizens,  by  the  accident  of  birth- 
place, was  the  chief  exponent.  The  Burrow  family, 
however,  were  amoug  the  earliest  settlers  of  Fay- 
ette County,  Alabama,  from  which  Lamar  was 
taken,  and  from  their  prolific  stock  descended  a 
numerous  progeny,  who,  by  the  natural  ties  of 
consanguinity,  formed  a  clan  amongst  whom  the 
bold  outlaws  found  ready  refuge  when  fleeing  from 
the  hot  pursuit  organized  in  the  more  populous 
localities  which  were  the  scenes  of  their  daring 
crimes.  Chief  among  Rube's  partisans  and  pro- 
tectors was  James  A,  Cash,  a  brother-in-law. 

Allen  H.  Burrow,  the  father  of  Rube,  was  born 
in  Maury  County,  Tenn.,  May  21,  1825,  ^is  parents 
moving  to  Franklin  County,  Ala.,  in  1826,  and  who, 
in  1828,  settled  within  the  vicinity  of  his  present 
home  in  Lamar  County,  Ala.  In  August,  1849, 
Allen  Burrow  married  Martha  Caroline  Terry,  a 
native  of  Lamar  County,  who  was  born  in  1830. 
From  this  union  were  bom  ten  children — five  boys 


4  RUBE   BURROW. 

and  five  girls.  John  T.  Burrow,  the  oldest  child, 
lives  near  Vernon,  the  county  seat  of  Lamar.  Apart 
from  harboring  his  brother  Rube,  while  an  outlaw, 
he  has  always  borne  a  fair  reputation.  He  is  of  a 
rollicking  disposition,  possesses  a  keen  sense  of  the 
ridiculous,  is  a  fine  mimic  and  recounts  an  anec- 
dote inimitably,  and,  though  crude  of  speech  and 
manner,  having  little  education,  is  a  man  of  more 
than  average  intelligence.  Jasper  Burrow,  the  sec- 
ond son,  is  a  quiet,  taciturn  man;  he  lives  with 
his  father,  and  is  reputed  to  be  of  unsound  mind. 
Four  of  the  daughters  married  citizens  of  Lamar 
County.  The  youngest,  who  bears  the  prosaic 
name  of  Ann  Eliza,  is  a  tall  blonde  of  twenty 
summers,  and  is  yet  unmarried.  She  is  of  a  defi- 
ant nature,  has  a  comely  and  attractive  face,  and 
is  a  favorite  with  many  a  rustic  youth  in  the 
vicinage  of  the  Burrow  homestead.  She  was  de- 
voted to  Rube,  afforded  a  constant  medium  of  com- 
munication between  the  parental  home  and  the 
hiding  place  of  the  outlaws,  and  was  the  courier 
through  whom  Rube  Smith  was  added  to  the  rob- 
ber band  while  in  rendezvous  in  Lamar  County. 

Reuben  Houston  Burrow,  the  outlaw,  was  born 
in  Lamar  County,  December  ii,  1854.  His  early 
life  in  Lamar  was  an  uneventful  one.  He  was 
known  as  an  active,  sprightly  boy,  apt  in  all  ath- 
letic pursuits,  a  swift  runner,  an  ardent  huntsman 
and  a  natural  woodsman.  He  possessed  a  fearle&s 
spirit,  wu  of  a  merry  and  humorous  tun,  a  db«rac- 


RUBE   BtT^RROW.  5 

teristic  of  the  Burrow  family,  but  he  developed 
none  of  those  traits  which  might  have  foreshad- 
owed  the    unenviable  fame  acquired  in  after-life. 

James  Buchanan  Burrow,  the  fifth  and  young- 
est son,  was  born  in  1858,  and  was,  therefore,  four 
years  the  junior  of  his  brother  Rube,  to  whose 
fortunes  his  own  were  linked  in  the  pursuit  of 
train  robbing,  and  which  gave  to  the  band  the 
name  of  the  "  Burrow  Brothers  "  in  the  earliest 
days  of  its  organization. 

The  facilities  for  acquiring  education  in  the 
rural  districts  of  the  South,  half  a  century  ago, 
were  limited,  and  Allen  Burrow  grew  to  manhood's 
estate,  having  mastered  little  more  than  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  "three  R's,"  and  yet  talent  for  teach- 
ing the  young  idea  how  to  shoot  was  so  scant  that 
Allen  Burrow,  during  the  decade  immediately  pre- 
ceding the  late  war,  v/as  found  diversifying  the  pur- 
suits of  tilling  the  soil  with  that  of  teaching  a  coun- 
try school.  Among  his  pupils  was  the  unfortunate 
postmaster  of  Jewell,  Ala.,  Moses  Graves,  who  was 
wantonly  killed  by  Rube  Burrow  in  1889.  Alany 
anecdotes  are  current  in  Lamar  County,  illustrating 
the  primitive  methods  of  pedagogy  as  pursued  by 
Allen  Burrow.  It  is  said  that  the  elder  Graves, 
who  had  several  sons  as  pupils,  withdrew  the  hope- 
ful scions  of  the  Graves  household  from  the  schooj 
for  the  reason  that  after  six  months'  tuition,  he  hav- 
ing incidentally  enrolled  the  whole  contingent  in 
a  spelling  bee,  they  all  insisted  on  spelling  every 


6  RI7KE  BURROW. 

monosyllable  ending  with  a  consonant  by  adding 
an  extra  one,  as  d-o-g-g,  dog;  b-u-g-g,  bug. 

Allen  Burrow  served  awhile  in  Roddy's  cavalry 
during  the  civil  war,  but  his  career  as  a  soldier  was 
brief  and  not  marked  by  any  incident  worthy  of 
note.  Soon  after  the  close  of  the  war  he  made 
some  reputation  as  a  "moonshiner,"  and  was  in- 
dicted about  1876  for  illicit  distilling.  He  fled  the 
country  in  consequence,  but  after  an  absence  of  two 
years  he  returned  and  made  some  compromise 
with  the  Government,  since  which  time  he  has 
quietly  lived  in  Lamar  County.  While  possessed 
of  some  shrewdness,  he  is  a  typical  backwoodsman, 
with  the  characteristic  drawling  voice  and  quaint 
vernacular  peculiar  to  his  class.  Martha  Terry, 
the  wife  of  Allen  Burrow,  claims  to  be  possessed 
of  the  peculiar  and  hereditary  gift  of  curing,  by 
some  strange  and  mysterious  agency,  many  of  the 
ills  to  which  flesh  is  heir,  and  had  she  lived  in  the 
days  of  Cotton  Mather  she  might  have  fallen  a 
victim  to  fire  and  fagot,  with  which  witchcraft  in 
that  day  and  time  was  punished.  There  are  many 
sensible  and  wholly  unsuperstitious  persons  in 
northern  Alabama,  where  old  Mrs.  Burrow  is  well 
known,  who  believe  in  her  occult  powers  of  curing 
cancers,  warts,  tumors  and  kindred  ailments,  by  the 
art  of  sorcery.  Capt.  J.  E.  Pennington,  a  prominent 
citizen,  and  the  present  tax  collector  of  Lamar 
County,  tells  of  two  instances  in  his  own  family  ip 
•which  Dame  Burrow  removed   tumors  by  simple 


RUBS    BURROW.  7 

incantation.  The  witch's  caldron  "  boils  and  bub- 
bles" on  the  hearthstone  of  the  Burrow  home,  and 
whether  the  dark  and  fetid  mixture  contain 

"  'Eye  of  newt  and  toe  of  frog, 
Wool  of  bat  and  tongue  of  dog ; 
Adder's  fork  and  blind  worm's  sting, 
Lizard's  leg  and  owlet's  wing," 

or  what  not,  many  good  but  credulous  people  come 
from  far  and  near  to  invoke  the  charm  of  her  occult 
mummery,  despite  the  fact  that  our  latter-day  civ- 
ilization has  long  since  closed  its  eyes  and  ears  to 
the  arts  of  sorcery  and  witchcraft.  Here,  amid  the 
environments  of  ignorance  and  superstition,  evils 
resulting  more  from  the  inherent  infirmities  of 
the  rugged  pioneer  and  his  wife  than  the  adversi- 
ties of  fortune,  the  family  of  ten  children  was 
reared.  It  is  from  such  strong  and  rugged  na- 
tures, uneducated  and  untrained  in  the  school  of 
right  and  honesty,  that  comes  the  material  of 
which  train  robbers  are  made. 


RUBE   BURROW. 


CHAPTER  11. 

tUBE  LEAVES  LAMAR  COUN-TY,  ALABAMA  —  HIS  EAHLY 
LIFE  IN  THE  LONE  STAR  STATE — HIS  BROTHER  JIM 
JOINS  HIM  —  THE  BELLEVUE,  GORDON  AND  BEN 
BROOK,   TEXAS,  TRAIN    ROBBERIES. 

"p  UBE  BURROW'S  old  companions  in  Alabama 
-*-^  recall  distinctly  the  day  he  left  Lamar  County 
for  Texas  in  the  autumn  of  1872.  He  left  the  old 
and  familiar  scenes  of  his  boyhood,  full  of  hope  and 
eager  to  test  the  possibilities  that  Texas,  then  the 
Eldorado  of  the  southern  emigrant,  opened  up  to 
him.  He  was  but  eighteen  years  of  age  when  he 
took  up  his  abode  with  his  uncle,  Joel  Burrow,  a 
very  worthy  and  upright  man,  who  owned  and 
tilled  a  small  farm  in  Erath  County,  that  State. 
In  1876  Rube  was  joined  by  Jim  Burrow,  his 
younger  brother,  who  remained  in  Texas  until 
1880,  when,  returning  to  Lamar  County,  Alabama, 
he  married  and  resided  there  until  1884,  when  he 
rejoined  his  brother  Rube  in  Texas,  taking  his  wife 
thither.  Jim  Burrow  was  a  "  burly,  roaring,  rois- 
tering blade,"  six  feet  tall,  as  straight  as  an  Indian, 
which  race  of  people  he  very  closely  resembled, 
■with  his  beardless  face,  his  high  cheek  bones  and 
coal-black  hair.     He  was  in  every  way  fitted  for 


RUBS  BURROW.  9 

following  the  fortunes  of  Rube,  and  had  he  not 
succumbed  to  the  unhappy  fate  of  imprisonment 
and  early  death  he  would  have  been  a  formidable 
rival  of  his  brother  Rube  in  the  events  that  marked 
his  subsequent  career. 

Rube  worked  awhile  on  his  uncle's  farm,  but 
soon  drifted  into  that  nondescript  character  known 
as  a  Texas  cowboy.  Meantime,  in  1876,  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Virginia  Alvison,  in  Wise  County,  Texas, 
and  from  this  marriage  two  children  were  born, 
who  are  now  with  their  grandparents  in  Alabama, 
the  elder  being  a  boy  of  twelve  years.  This  wife 
died  in  1880,  and  he  again  married  in  1884  a  Miss 
Adeline  Hoover,  of  Erath  County,  Texas.  These 
events  served  to  restrain  his  natural  inclinations 
for  excitement  and  adventure,  and  it  may  be  truth- 
fully said  that  from  1873  to  1886  Rube  Burrow 
transgressed  the  law  only  to  the  extent  of  herding 
unbranded  cattle  and  marking  them  as  his  own. 
In  this  pursuit  he  traversed  the  plains  of  Texas, 
enjoying  with  an  excess  of  keen  delight  a  com- 
panionship of  kindred  spirits,  whose  homes  were 
in  the  saddle,  and  who  found  their  only  shelter 
by  day  and  by  night  under  the  same  kindly  skies. 
As  he  grew  to  manhood  he  had  given  full  bent  to 
his  love  for  the  athletic  pursuits  incident  to  life 
upon  the  then  sparsely  settled  plains  of  the  Lone 
Star  State.  Taming  the  unbridled  broncho,  shoot- 
ing the  antelope,  and  lassoing  the  wild  steer,  unde^ 
whip  and  spur,  he  soon  gained  fame  as  an  oque» 


lO  RUBE  BURROW. 

trian,  and  was  reckoned  as  the  most  unerring 
marksman  in  all  the  adjacent  country.  With  a 
reputation  for  all  these  accomplishments,  strength- 
ened by  an  innate  capacity  for  leadership,  Rube  ere 
long  gathered  about  him  a  band  of  trusty  comrades, 
of  which  he  was  easily  the  leader. 

A  short  time  prior  to  this  period,  at  varying  in- 
tervals, all  Texas  had  been  startled  by  the  bold  and 
desperate  adventures  of  Sam  Bass  and  his  band  of 
train  robbers,  with  which  Rube  was  erroneously 
supposed  to  have  been  associated.  Possibly  in- 
spired, however,  by  the  fame  which  Sam  Bass  had 
achieved,  and  the  exaggerated  reports  of  the  profits 
'  of  his  adventures,  contrasted  with  the  sparse  re- 
turns from  his  more  plodding  occupation,  Rube 
was  seized  with  a  desire  to  emulate  his  deeds  of 
daring,  and  achieve  at  once  fame  and  fortune. 

At  this  time,  December  i,  1886,  his  party,  con- 
sisting of  Jim  Burrow,  Nep  Thornton  and  Hender- 
son Bromley,  returning  from  a  bootless  excursion 
into  the  Indian  Territory,  rode  in  the  direction  of 
Bellevue,  a  station  on  the  Fort  Worth  and  Denver 
Railway.  Here  Rube  proposed  to  rob  the  traip, 
which  they  knew  to  be  due  at  Bellevue  at  eleven 
o'clock  A.  M.  Hitching  their  horses  in  the  woods  a 
few  hundred  yards  away  they  stealthily  approached 
a  water-tank  three  hundred  yards  west  of  the 
station,  and  where  the  train  usually  stopped  for 
water.  Thornton  held  up  the  engineer  and  fire- 
man, while  Rube,  Bromley  and  Jim  Burrow  went 


RUBE    BURROW.  II 

through  the  train  and  robbed  the  passengers,  leav- 
ing the  Pacific  Express  unmolested.  They  secured 
some  three  hundred  dollars  in  currency  and  a 
dozen  or  more  watches.  On  the  train  was  Ser- 
geant Connors  (white),  with  a  squad  of  U.S.  col- 
ored soldiers,  in  charge  of  some  prisoners.  From 
these  soldiers  were  taken  their  forty-five  caliber 
Colt's  revolvers,  a  brace  of  which  pistols  were  used 
by  Rube  Burrow  throughout  his  subsequent  career. 
Rube  insisted  on  the  prisoners  being  liberated,  but 
they  disdained  the  offer  of  liberty  at  the  hands  of 
the  highwaymen  and  remained  in  charge  of  the 
crest-fallen  soldiers,  who  were  afterwards  dismissed 
from  the  service  for  cowardice.  Regaining  their 
horses  the  party  rode  forth  from  the  scene  of  their 
initial  train  robbery,  out  into  the  plains,  making  a 
distance  of  some  seventy-five  miles  from  the  scene 
of  the  robbery  in  twenty-four  hours. 

The  ill-gotten  gains  thus  obtained  did  not  suffice 
to  satisfy  the  greed  of  the  newly  fledged  train  rob- 
bers, and  early  in  the  following  January  another 
raid  was  planned.  At  Alexander,  Texas,  about 
seventy-five  miles  from  Gordon,  all  the  robbers  met, 
and  going  thence  by  horseback  to  Gordon,  Texas, 
a  station  on  the  Texas  and  Pacific  Railway,  they 
reached  their  destination  about  one  o'clock  a.  m., 
on  January  23,  1887.  As  the  train  pulled  out  of 
Gordon  at  two  o'clock  A.  m..  Rube  and  Bromley 
mounted  the  engine,  covered  the  engineer  and  fire- 
man, and  ordered  them  to  pull  ahead  and  stop  at  a 


12  XUBB  BURROW. 

distance  of  j&ve  hundred  yards  east  of  the  station. 
The  murderous  looking  Colt's  revolvers  brought 
the  engineer  to  terms,  and  the  commands  of  the 
highwaymen  were  obeyed  to  the  letter.  A.t  the 
point  where  the  train  was  stopped,  Jim  Burrow, 
Thornton,  and  Harrison  Askew,  a  recruit  who  had 
but  recently  joined  the  robber  band,  were  in  wait- 
ing. As  the  train  pulled  ap,  Askew's  nerve  failed 
him,  and  he  cried  out,  "  For  heaven's  sake,  boys,  let 
me  out  of  this  ;  I  can't  stand  it."  Askew's  powers 
of  locomotion,  however,  had  not  forsaken  him,  and 
he  made  precipitate  flight  from  the  scene  of  the 
robbery.  Rube  and  Bromley  marched  the  engi- 
neer and  fireman  to  the  express  car  and  demanded 
admittance,  while  the  rest  of  the  robbers  held  the 
conductor  and  other  trainmen  at  bay.  The  mes- 
senger of  the  Pacific  Express  Company  refused  at 
first  to  obey  the  command  to  open  the  door,  but 
put  out  the  lights  in  his  car.  A  regular  fusilade 
ensued,  the  robbers  using  a  couple  of  Wincliester 
rifles,  and  after  firing  fifty  or  more  shots  the  mes- 
senger surrendered.  About  $2,275  ^^'^^  secured 
from  the  Pacific  Express  car.  The  U.  S.  Mail  car 
was  also  robbed,  and  the  highwaymen  secured 
from  the  registered  mail  about  two  thousand  dol- 
lars. 

Mounting  their  horses,  which  they  had  left  hid- 
den in  the  forest  hard  by,  they  rode  off  in  a  north- 
erly direction,  in  order  to  mislead  their  pursuers. 
Making  a  circuit  to  the  south  they  came  upon  the 


RUBE   BURROW.  1 3 

open  plains,  which  stretched  far  away  towards  the 
home  of  the  robber  band.  The  trackless  plain 
gave  no  vestige  of  the  flight  of  the  swift-footed 
horses  as  they  carried  their  riders  faster  and  still 
faster  on  to  their  haven  of  safety,  which  they 
reached  soon  after  daylight  on  the  second  morn- 
ing after  the  robbery. 

The  better  to  allay  suspicion  the  robber  com- 
rades now  agreed  to  separate,  and  all  made  a  show 
of  work,  some  tilling  the  soil,  while  others  engaged 
in  the  occupation  of  herding  cattle  for  the  neigh- 
boring ranch  owners. 

Rube  and  Jim  Burrow,  about  this  time,  pur- 
chased a  small  tract  of  land,  paying  six  hundred 
dollars  for  it.  They  also  bought  a  few  head  of 
stock  and  made  a  fair  showing  for  a  few  months  at 
making  an  honest  living.  The  restless  and  daring 
spirit  of  Rube  Burrow,  however,  could  not  brook 
honest  toil.  As  he  followed  the  plowshare  over 
his  newly  purchased  land,  and  turned  the  wild 
flowers  of  the  teeming  prairie  beneath  the  soil,  he 
nurtured  within  his  soul  nothing  of  the  pride  of 
the  peaceful  husbandman,  but,  fretting  over  such 
tame  pursuits,  built  robber  castles  anew. 

While  planting  a  crop  in  the  spring  of  1887  he 
had  for  a  fellow  workman  one  William  Brock,  and 
finding  in  him  a  dare-devil  and  restless  spirit  he 
recounted  to  him  his  successful  ventures  at  Belle- 
vuc  and  at  Gordon.  Thus  another  recruit  was 
added  to  his  forces,  and  one,  too,  who  was  destined 


14  RUBE  BURROW. 

to  play  an  important  role,  as  subsequent  events  will 
show.  Time  grew  apace,  and  Rube  wrote,  in  his 
quaint,  unscholarly  way,  affectionate  epistles  to  his 
relatives  in  Lamar  County,  Ala.,  sending  them 
some  of  his  ill-gotten  gains.  Two  of  these  letters, 
written  on  the  same  sheet  of  paper,  the  one  to 
his  brother,  John  T.  Burrow,  the  other  to  his  father 
and  mother,  at  Vernon,  Ala.,  are  here  given  verba- 
tim et  literatim^  and  show  that  a  collegiate  educa- 
tion is  not  a  necessary  adjunct  to  the  pursuit  of 
train  robbing. 

Erath  County,  Tex.,  March  lo,  1887. 
Dear  Brother  and  family : 

All  is  well.  No  nuse  too  rite,  the  weather  is  good 
for  work  and  wee  ar  puting  in  the  time.  Wee  will  plant 
com  too  morrow.  Mee  and  james  Will  plant  35  acreys  in 
corn.  Wee  wont  plant  Eny  Cotton  Wee  hav  a  feW  Ooats 
sode  and  millet,  i  am  going  too  Stephens  Vill  too  day  and 
i  Will  male  this  Letr.  J.  T.  when  you  rite  Direct  your 
letr  too  Stephens  Vill  Erath  county  and  tell  all  of  the  Rest 
too  direct  there  letrs  too  the  same  place,  i  want  you  and 
pah  too  keep  that  money  John  you  keep  $30.00  and  pah 
$20.00.  the  Reason  i  want  you  to  hav  $30  is  because  you 
have  the  largest  family.  John  i  don't  blame  pah  and 
mother  for  not  coming  out  here  for  they  ortoo  no  there 
Buisness.  John  i  want  you  too  rite  too  me.  i  did  think  i 
would  Come  Back  in  march,     i  cant  come  now.     Rite. 

R.  H.  Burrow 
too  J.  T.  Burrow. 


RtJiBS  BURROW.  15 

Krats  CotTNTY,  Texas,  March.  10,  i8«7. 
Dear  father  &  mother : 

Eye  will  Rite  you  a  few  I,ines.  all  is  well.  Elizabeth* 
has  a  boy.  it  was  bomd  on  the  28  of  february.  She  has 
done  well.  Mother  i  want  you  too  pick  mee  out  one  of 
the  prityest  widows  in  ala.  i  will  come  home  this  fawl. 
pah  i  want  John  thomas  too  hav  30  dollars  of  that  money 
eye  want  you  too  Buy  analyzer  a  gold  Ring,  it  wont  cost 
more  than  $4.  i  told  her  i  would  send  her  a  present,  pah 
that  will  take  a  rite  smart  of  your  part  of  the  money  but  it 
will  come  all  right  some  day  for  I  am  going  to  sell  out 
some  time  and  come  and  see  all  of  you.    Rite. 

R  H  Burrow 
too  A  H  Burrow. 

"We  have  sowed  a  few  oats,"  wrote  Rube. 
Whether  this  was  meant  as  a  double-entendre^  and 
referred  not  only  to  a  strictly  domesticated  brand 
of  that  nseful  cereal,  but  also  to  the  "wild  oats" 
which  Rube  and  Jim  had  been  sowing,  and  which 
bore  ample  fruitage  in  after  years,  it  is  useless  to 
speculate. 

In  the  midst  of  seed-time  Rube  tired  of  his  bu- 
colic pursuits,  and  concluded  to  try  his  fortunes  at 
Gordon  again,  and  on  the  tenth  of  May  the  chief 
gathered  his  little  band  at  his  farm  in  Erath 
County  and,  under  cover  of  a  moonless  night,  rode 
northward  to  the  Brazos  River,  about  fifty  miles 
distant.  They  found  to  their  disappointment  that 
the  river  was  very  high  and  was  overflowing  its 
ban  3,  rendering  it  impossible  to  cross  it  by  fexiy 


*'  jUzabetb  was  the  wife  of  bis  brother  Jim. 


l6  JtVim  BtTRROW. 

or  otherwise,  and  spending  the  day  in  the  adjacent 
•woodland,  they  rode  back  to  Alexander  the  follow- 
ing night,  to  await  the  subsidence  of  the  floods, 
which,  however,  kept  the  Brazos  River  high  for 
some  weeks. 

Again,  on  the  night  of  June  3d,  by  appoint- 
ment, Henderson  Bromley  and  Bill  Brock  met 
Rube  and  Jim  Burrow  at  their  home  near  Ste- 
phensville,  in  Erath  County,  and,  after  consulta- 
tion, Ben  Brook,  Texas,  a  station  on  the  Texas  and 
Pacific  Railway,  seventy-five  miles  south  of  Fort 
Worth,  was  selected  as  the  scene  of  their  third 
train  robbery. 

After  a  hard  night's  ride  they  were  at  daylight, 
on  June  4th,  within  a  few  miles  of  Ben  Brook. 
Having  ascertained  that  the  north-bound  train 
would  pass  the  station  about  7  p.  m.  they  secreted 
themselves  in  the  woods  near  by  until  dark,  at 
which  time  they  rode  quietly  to  within  a  few  hun- 
dred yards  of  the  station.  Rube  Burrow  and  Hen- 
derson Bromley  had  blackened  their  faces  with 
burnt  cork,  while  Jim  Burrow  and  Brock  used 
their  pocket  handkerchiefs  for  masks.  Rube  and 
Bromley  boarded  the  engine  as  it  pulled  out  of  the 
station  and,  with  drawn  revolvers,  covered  the  en- 
gineer and  fireman,  and  ordered  the  former  to  stop 
at  a  trestle  a  few  hundred  yards  beyond  the  sta 
tion.  Here  Jim  Burrow  and  Brock  were  in  ait- 
ing,  and  the  two  latter  held  the  conductor  and  )as- 
scngers  at  bay,  while  the  two  former  ordered  the 


RU-BE  BURROW.  If 

engineer  to  break  into  the  express  car  with  the 
coal  pick  taken  from  the  engine,  and  again  the  Pa- 
cific Express  Company  was  robbed,  the  highway- 
men securing  $2,450.  The  passengers  and  mail 
were  unmolested. 

Regaining  their  horses  within  thirty  minutes 
after  the  train  first  stopped  at  the  station,  the  rob- 
bers rode  hard  and  fast  until  noon  of  the  following 
day.  Through  woodland  and  over  plain,  ere  dawn 
of  day  they  had  fled  far  from  the  scene  of  the  rob- 
bery of  the  previous  night,  and  a  drenching  rain, 
which  commenced  to  fall  at  midnight,  left  not  a 
trace  of  the  course  of  their  flight.  Here  the  rob- 
bers remained  in  quiet  seclusion,  disguising  their 
identity  as  train  robbers  by  a  seeming  diligence 
in  agricultural  pursuits,  until  September  20,  1887, 
when  they  made  a  second  raid  on  the  Texas  Pa- 
cific Road,  robbing  the  train  at  Ben  Brook  station 
again. 

When  Rube  and  Bromley  mounted  the  engine, 
wonderful  to  relate,  it  was  in  charge  of  the  same 
engineer  whom  the  robbers  had  "held  up"  in  the 
robbery  of  June  4th,  and  the  engineer,  recogniz- 
ing Rube  and  Bromley,  said,  as  he  looked  down 
the  barrels  of  their  Colt's  revolvers,  "  Well,  Cap- 
tain, where  do  you  want  me  to  stop  this  time  ?  " 
Rube  laconically  replied  "Same  place,"  and  so  it 
was  that  the  train  was  stopped  and  robbed,  the 
same  crew  being  in  charge,  on  the  identical  spot 
where  it  had  been  robbed  before.     The  messenger 


1 8  RUBE   BLTRROW. 

of  the  Pacific  Express  Company  made  some  resist- 
ance, but  finally  the  robbers  succeeded  in  entering 
his  car  and  secured  $2,725,  or  about  $680  each. 

The  highwaymen  reached  their  rendezvous  in 
Erath  County,  having  successfully  committed  four 
train  robberies. 

About  the  middle  of  November  following,  Rube 
and  Jim  paid  a  visit  to  their  parents  in  Lamar 
County,  Ala.,  Jim  taking  his  wife  there  and  Rube 
his  two  children.  They  remained  in  Lamar  Coun- 
ty some  weeks,  visiting  their  relatives  and  walk- 
ing the  streets  of  Vernon,  the  county  seat,  unmo- 
lested, as  neither  of  the  two  men  had  at  that  time 
ever  been  suspected  of  train  robbing. 


RUBE   BURROW.  19 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  GENOA,  ARK.,  ROBBERY,  DECEMBER  9,    1 887 — ARREST 
OF  WILLIAM   BROCK — HIS  CONFESSION. 

EXPRESS  Train  No.  2,  on  the  St.  Louis,  Arkan- 
sas and  Texas  Railway,  left  Texarkana,  Ark., 
on  the  evening  of  December  9,  1887,  at  5:50  P.  m., 
fifty  minutes  late.  Nothing  unusual  occurred  un- 
til just  as  the  train  began  to  pull  out  of  Genoa, 
Ark.,  a  small  station  thirty  miles  north  of  Texar- 
kana. Engineer  Rue,  on  looking  about,  discovered 
two  men  standing  just  behind  him,  with  drawn  re- 
volvers, covering  himself  and  fireman. 

"  What  are  you  doing  here  ?  "  asked  Rue. 

The  answer  was,  "Go  on!  Don't  stop!  If  you 
stop  I  will  kill  you!  "  And  further:  "  I  want  you 
to  stop  about  one  and  a  half  miles  from  here,  at 
the  north  end  of  the  second  big  cut.  I  don't  want 
to  hurt  you  or  your  fireman,  but  we  are  going  to 
rob  this  train  or  kill  every  man  on  it." 

Arriving  at  the  spot  designated,  the  leader  ab- 
ruptly said,  "Stop!"  The  engineer  and  fireman 
were  then  ordered  down  from  the  engine,  and  the 
leader  said,  "Boys, how  are  you  all?" 

A  voice  from  the  brush,  where  a  third  man  was 


2«  RUBS   BURROW. 

in  waiting,  said,  "All  right,  boys ! "  The  latter  then 
walked  towards  the  passenger  coaches  and  with  a 
sixteen-shooting  rifle  opened  fire  in  the  direction 
of  the  coaches.  The  two  men  in  charge  of  the  en- 
gineer and  fireman  were  closely  masked,  and  were 
armed  with  a  brace  of  forty-five  caliber  Colt's  pis- 
tols, with  Winchester  rifles  strapped  across  their 
backs.  Messenger  Cavin,  of  the  Southern  Express 
Company,  put  out  his  lights  and,  like  Br'er  Fox, 
"lay  low"  for  some  time.  The  robbers  demanded 
admittance,  showering  volleys  of  oaths  and  shots 
in  one  common  fusilade.  The  heavy  Winchesters 
sped  shot  after  shot  through  the  car,  the  balls 
piercing  it  from  side  to  side,  and  yet  young  Cavin 
held  his  ground  until  Rube  Burrow  ordered  the 
engineer  to  bring  his  oil  can  and  saturate  the  car 
with  the  contents.  The  engineer  was  ordered  to 
set  fire  to  the  car,  but  before  doing  so  he  made  an 
earnest  appeal  to  the  messenger,  who  agreed  to 
surrender,  under  the  condition  that  he  should  not 
be  hurt.  The  robbers  were  some  thirty  minutes 
gaining  access  to  the  car.  Having  done  so,  they 
secured  about  two  thousand  dollars. 

This  was  the  first  train  robbery  in  the  territory 
of  the  Southern  Express  Company  for  a  period  of 
seventeen  years.  Not  since  the  robbery  of  the 
Southern  Express  car  on  the  Mobile  and  Ohio 
Railway  at  Union  City,  Tenn.,  in  October,  1870,  by 
the  celebrated  Farrington  brothers,  had  highway- 
men  made  a  raid   on  a  Southern  Express  train. 


RUBE  BURROW.  21 

The  Pinkerton  Detective  Agency  having  been 
given  charge  of  the  Union  City,  Tenn.,  case,  and 
all  the  participants  in  that  crime  having  been 
punished  to  the  full  extent  of  the  law,  the  man- 
agement of  the  Southern  Express  Company  called 
to  their  aid  at  once  the  Pinkerton  force. 

Assistant  Superintendent  McGinn,  of  the  Chi- 
cago agency,  reached  Texarkana  in  about  forty- 
eight  hours  after  the  robbery,  and  immediately 
repaired  to  the  scene  of  the  occurrence.  Genoa 
is  a  small  railroad  station  only  a  short  distance 
from  Red  River.  The  winter  rains  had  filled  the 
bottom  lands  with  water,  and  the  dense  and  im- 
penetrable growth  of  matted  brush  and  vines,  de- 
nuded of  their  foliage,  made  the  landscape  a  pict- 
irre  desolate  and  uninviting.  Here  in  this  wild 
woodland  came  Superintendent  McGinn,  on  the 
morning  of  the  third  day  after  the  robbery,  to  take 
up  the  tangled  skein  from  which  to  weave  the  net 
Tor  the  capture  of  the  train  robbers. 

On  the  night  of  the  robbery  a  report  of  the 
occurrence  had  been  telegraphed  to  the  officials  of 
the  Express  Company  at  Texarkana,  and  a  posse  at 
once  started  to  the  scene  of  the  robbery.  A  few 
miles  north  of  Texarkana  the  posse,  being  in 
charge  of  Sheriff  Dixon,  of  Miller  County,  came 
upon  three  men  on  the  railway  track,  walking 
towards  Texarkana,  This  was  about  three  o'clock 
A.  M.  The  three  men  were  allowed  to  pass,  when 
the    sheriflf's    posse,    turning    about,  commanded 


22  RUB^  BURROW. 

them  to  halt.  The  latter  ran,  taking  refuge  in  a 
railway  cut  some  thirty  yards  distant,  and  the 
sheriff's  posse  at  once  opened  fire,  which  was 
promptly  returned,  and  a  score  or  more  of  shots 
were  exchanged. 

The  night  being  very  dark  the  firing  on  each 
side  was  done  at  random,  and  no  casualties  ensued. 
After  daylight  that  morning  two  rubber  coats  and 
a  slouch  hat  were  found  in  the  vicinity  of  the  fight, 
and  these  articles  were  subsequently  identified  as 
having  been  worn  by  the  men  who  robbed  the 
train  at  Genoa.  The  hat  bore  the  name  of  a  firm 
in  Dublin,  Texas,  and  the  coats,  which  were  new, 
bore  the  simple  cost  mark  "K.  W.  P."  Here  was 
an  important  clew,  proving  that  the  robbers  had  at 
least  purchased  the  hat  at  Dublin.  Thither  the 
detectives  went,  with  the  hat  and  coats,  hoping  to 
have  the  purchasers  identified.  Calling  upon  the 
Dublin  firm,  diligent  inquiry  failed  to  disclose  the 
purchaser  of  the  hat,  the  firm  having  sold  hun- 
dreds of  a  similar  style  during  the  season. 

No  trace  of  the  purchasers  of  the  coats  could 
be  found  at  Dublin,  but  the  detectives  felt  that 
they  were  on  a  hot  trail  and  renewed  their  exer- 
tions. To  Corsicana,  Waco,  Stephensville  and  other 
points  adjacent  they  journeyed,  exhibiting  the  coats, 
with  the  cabalistic  letters,  until  finally  McGinn 
arrived  at  Alexander,  Texas,  as  if  carried  there  by 
that  intuition  common  to  shrewd  men  of  his  pro- 
fession, and  plied  his  inquires  anew.     Falling  in 


RUBE    BURROW.  23 

with  a  salesman  of  the  firm  of  Sherman  &  Thai- 
well,  to  whom  the  coats  were  exhibited,  the  answer 
of  the  young  salesman,  Hearn,  was  : 

''That  is  the  cost  mark  of  Sherman  &  Thai- 
well.  I  put  those  letters,  '  K.  W.  P.,'  on  myself." 
He  then  seemed  lost  a  moment  in  thought,  and 
resumed : 

"We  had  a  lot  of  that  brand,  and  I  sold  a  coat 
like  that  to  one  Bill  Brock,  w^ho  lives,  when  at 
home,  at  his  father-in-law's,  five  miles  from  Alex- 
ander, on  the  road  to  Dublin."  He  further  stated 
that  Brock  had  been  away,  he  thought,  up  about 
Texarkana,  and  added : 

"At  the  time  Brock  made  the  purchase  there 
was  a  man  with  him  to  whom  I  also  sold  a  similar 
coat,  and  who  afterwards  went  to  Alabama,  and 
who  I  think  is  there  now." 

Here  was  a  ray  of  light  upon  the  dark  mystery 
of  December  9th  at  Genoa.  The  name,  William 
Brock,  had  been  copied  from  the  hotel  register  at 
Texarkana,  where  it  was  found  under  date  of  De- 
cember 3d,  six  days  before  the  robbery,  and  was  in 
the  possession  of  the  detectives  who  were  on  the 
alert  for  the  owner. 

A  few  days  prior  to  this  occurrence  another 
detective  was  shadowing  a  man  in  Waco,  Texas, 
who  was  spending  money  freely,  and  who  answered 
the  description  of  one  of  the  train  robbers.  Fol- 
lowing him  to  Dublin,  Texas,  the  man  was  ascer- 
tained to  be  Brock,  and  here  the  detectives,  com- 


24  RUBE  BURROW. 

paring  notes,  found  themselves  in  possession  of 
abundant  evidence  upon  which,  to  arrest  Brock. 
Before  this  was  done,  however,  the  important  dis- 
closure was  made  that  Brock  had  two  companions, 
Rube  and  Jim  Burrow,  and  as  these  men  answered 
the  descriptions  of  the  men  who  committed  the 
robbery  at  Genoa  the  detectives  felt  quite  sure 
that  the  names  of  all  three  of  the  robbers  were  at 
least  known.  Further  investigation,  however,  de- 
veloped the  fact  that  Rube  and  Jim  Burrow  had 
recently  gone  to  Alabama,  and  the  immediate  ar- 
rest of  Brock  was  determined  upon. 

At  three  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  December 
31,  1887,  twenty-two  days  after  the  robbery,  Wm. 
Brock  was  arrested  at  his  home  near  Dublin,  Texas. 
The  detectives  demanded  admittance  and  Brock 
surrendered  without  firing  a  shot,  although  he  had 
a  forty-five  caliber  Colt's  revolver  and  fifty  car- 
tridges in  a  belt  under  his  pillow,  and  also  one  of 
the  Winchester  rifles  used  at  Genoa.  The  pris- 
oner was  taken  to  Texarkana  and  confronted  with 
engineer  Rue,  who  thoroughly  identified  him.  He 
was  also  identified  by  parties  who  saw  him  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  Genoa.  Brock  could  not  stand 
the  pressure  brought  to  bear  on  him  by  the  wily 
detectives,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  made  a 
clean  breast  of  his  participation  in  the  Genoa,  Ark., 
robbery,  confirming  the  information  already  in  pos- 
session of  the  detectives  as  to  the  complicity  of 
Rube  and  Jim  Burrow  in  the  daring  adventure. 


mwrn  BURROW.  25 

From  Brock  it  was  learned  that  Rube  and  Jim 
Burrow  had,  about  November  15,  1887,  gone  to  La- 
mar County,  Ala.  By  agreement.  Brock  had  joined 
the  Burrow  brothers  at  Texarkana  on  December 
3d,  where  all  three  registered  at  the  Cosmopolitan 
Hotel,  Brock  in  his  own  name,  and  Rube  and  Jim 
as  R.  Houston  and  James  Buchanan,  respectively, 
each  using  his  middle  name  as  a  surname.  They 
had  robbed  the  train  at  Genoa  on  the  night  of  De- 
cember 9th,  and  while  walking  toward  Texarkana 
in  the  early  morning  of  the  loth  had  been  fired 
upon  by  the  sheriff's  posse.  Taken  by  surprise, 
he  and  Jim  Burrow  had  dropped  their  coats,  while 
Rube  had  lost  his  hat.  After  going  a  few  miles 
south  of  Texarkana  they  separated.  Brock  going 
into  Texas  and  Rube  and  Jim  making  their  way 
into  Lamar  County,  Ala. 

On  the  29th  of  December  Rube  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  Brock,  which  was  received  by  Mrs. 
Brock,  and  turned  over  to  the  detectives  after  her 
husband's  arrest: 

Dec  20-29-87. 

Mr.  IV.  L.  Brock: 

All  is  well  and  hope  you  the  same  Bill  notis  every- 
thing and  let  me  know  Bill  eye  will  sell  you  my  place 
ef  5'ou  want  it  at  7  hundred  let  me  here  from  ef  you 
want  it  eye  will  have  all  fixt  right  and  send  you  the  tittle 
in  full    let  me  here  from  you  soon. 

R.  H.  too  W.  I..  B. 

The  figure*  ,20-39-87  meant  that   Rube  and 


36  RUBB^   BURROW. 

Jim  reached  Lamar  County  on  the  20th  and  the 
letter  was  written  on  the  29th  of  December. 
William  Brock  detailed  to  the  detectives  the  his- 
tory of  the  Bellevue  and  Gordon  robberies,  as 
gathered  from  Rube,  and  of  the  Ben  Brook  robber- 
ies, in  which  he  himself  participated.  He  seemed 
thoroughly  penitent  over  his  crimes,  and,  after 
reaching  Texarkana,  disclosed  the  fact  that  he  had 
about  four  hundred  dollars  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
Genoa  robbery,  which  he  proposed  to  and  did  re- 
store. 

Brock  was  a  rough,  uncouth-looking  fellow, 
about  five  feet  eleven  inches  high ;  weighed  about 
180  pounds,  and  was  a  strong-chested,  broad-shoul- 
dered fellow,  whose  forbidding  features  made  him  a 
typical  train  robber.  He  was  about  thirty-one 
years  old,  and  although  born  in  Georgia,  his 
parents  moved  to  Texas  when  he  was  quite  a 
child.  He  was  wholly  illiterate,  not  being  able 
to  either  read  or  write,  and  the  environments  of 
corrupt  companionship  tended  to  fill  his  untu- 
tored mind  with  evil  only.  Brock  made  an  im- 
portant witness  in  the  trials  of  the  participants  in 
the  various  train  robberies  in  Texas,  and  was  after- 
wards given  a  comparatively  light  sentence  as  a 
punishment  for  his  oflfenses. 


RUBE   BURROW.  2/ 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE     PINKERTONS    AFTER     RUBE    AND     JIM     BURROW     IN 
LAMAR    COUNTY — THEIR    NARROW  ESCAPE. 

A  SCERTAINING  definitely  that  at  the  time  of 
•^^  Brock's  arrest  Rube  and  Jim  Burrow  were 
not  in  Texas,  but  supposed  to  be  in  Lamar  County, 
Ala.,  Superintendent  McGinn,  of  the  Pinkerton 
Agency,  left  Texarkana  January  5,  1888,  accompa- 
nied by  two  of  his  detectives,  for  the  purpose  of 
capturing  them. 

On  arriving  at  Fayette  Court-House,  Ala., 
McGinn  summoned  to  his  aid  the  then  sheriff  of 
Lamar  County,  Fillmore  Pennington,  a  very  cour- 
ageous and  efficient  officer,  and  the  party  left  for 
Vernon,  the  county  seat  of  Lamar  County,  about 
three  o'clock  p.  m.,  January  8th.  The  night  was 
dark,  and  continuous  rainfalls  had  rendered  the 
roads  well-nigh  impassable.  It  was  not  until  ten 
o'clock  that  the  distance  of  twenty  miles  was 
made,  and  the  detectives,  under  the  guise  of  land 
buyers,  reached  Vernon. 

On  the  succeeding  day  a  heavy  rain  set  in  about 
daylight  and  continued  throughout  the  day.  The 
weather  was,  therefore,  sinted  neither  to  the  outing 
of  land  buyers  nor  to  a  visit  from  Rube  and  Jim  to 


28  RUBE   BURROW. 

the  town,  as  the  sheriff  had  so  confidently  ex- 
pected. The  detectives  kept  their  rooms  in  the 
hotel  during  the  day,  inspecting  a  large  assortment 
of  mineral  specimens  which  were  brought  in  by 
anxious  owners  of  valuable  mining  properties  in 
that  section. 

That  night  it  was  determined  to  arrange  a  raid 
upon  the  house  of  Jim  Burrow,  who  had  his  family 
in  a  small  dwelling  about  four  miles  from  Vernon, 
with  the  hope  of  finding  both  Rube  and  Jim.  Ac- 
cordingly, on  the  morning  of  the  loth  of  January, 
Supt.  McGinn,  at  2:30  o'clock,  left  Vernon  for  the 
house  of  Jim  Burrow.  Detectives  Carney  and  Wing 
were  on  horseback,  with  Deputy-Sheriff  Jerry  as  a 
guide.  Sheriff  Pennington  and  Detectives  Williams 
and  Wilbosky  were  in  a  wagon  with  McGinn. 
The  party  drove  to  a  point  designated  by  the  guide 
as  being  half  a  mile  from  Jim  Burrow's  house. 
Leaving  a  guard  in  charge  of  the  horses,  the  posse 
quietly  surrounded  the  house,  and  while  closing  in 
upon  the  place,  just  as  the  day  was  dawning,  the 
guide  informed  the  detectives  that  he  was  mis- 
taken in  the  house,  but  that  it  was  another  house, 
pointing  to  one  about  a  half  mile  distant,  in  which 
a  light  was  seen.  On  arrival  at  the  second  house 
the  guide  found  himself  again  in  error.  It  was 
then  daylight.  The  detectives  were  about  to  with- 
draw and  get  their  horses  and  wagon  out  of  the 
way  before  they  should  be  discovered,  when  they 
fonnd  they  were  already  observed  by  the  inmates 


RUBE    BURROW.  2g 

of  the  house.  It  was  then  too  late  to  retreat  and 
await  the  cover  of  the  succeeding  night  to  surround 
the  house  of  Jim  Burrow,  then  ascertained  to  be 
still  about  two  miles  further  on.  Their  only  hope 
was  to  go  at  once  and  risk  the  danger  of  being  dis- 
covered while  approaching  the  place  after  daylight. 

Pushing  forward,  with  great  anxiety  as  to  the 
result,  the  house  they  were  seeking  was  soon  vis- 
ible on  the  slope  of  a  hill  near  the  edge  of  the 
timber.  Deploying  their  forces  they  advanced 
quickly,  and  when  within  about  one  hundred  yards 
a  crushing,  tearing  sound  was  heard  in  the  rear  of 
the  building.  Jim  Burrow  had  discovered  their 
approach  and  ran  so  swiftly  from  the  house  as  to 
tear  the  door  from  its  hinges.  Shot  after  shot  from 
the  Winchesters  of  the  detectives  was  fired  at  the 
young  robber  as  he  fled.  Several  of  the  bullets 
perforated  his  clothing,  but  he  succeeded  in  reach- 
ing the  cover  of  the  woods  and  escaped,  to  the 
grievous  disappointment  of  the  detectives,  whose 
vigilance  and  energy  had  been  defeated  through 
the  stupidity  of  the   guide. 

After  this  escapade  there  was  hurrying  to  and 
fro  among  the  kinspeople  of  the  Burrow  family, 
and  preparations  were  set  afoot  to  apprise  Rube, 
v/ho  was  then  at  Kennedy,  Ala.,  eighteen  miles  dis- 
tant, of  the  attempt  to  capture  Jim,  and  of  the 
fact  that  the  detectives  had  visited  his  father's 
house  in  search  of  him.  Henry  Cash  met  Rube 
about  one  mile  out  of  Kennedy  and  recited   the 


y>  RUBE   BURROW. 

events  of  the  morning.  Cash  was  en  route  to  Ken- 
nedy to  make  some  preparation  for  his  marriage, 
which  was  to  occur  the  following  day..  Rube 
awaited  his  return  and  the  two  then  rode  back 
towards  Vernon  by  bridle  paths,  and  met  Allen 
Burrow,  who  had  appointed  a  meeting-place  for  the 
two  brothers,  that  night,  near  the  house  of  one 
Green  Harris.  From  this  point  they  started  afoot 
at  midnight,  Januar)'^  loth,  traveling  in  a  south- 
easterly direction,  and  before  daylight  were  beyond 
the  confines  of  Lamar  County. 


RUKB    BUW60W.  tl 


CHAPTER  V. 

RUBE  AND  JIM  BOARD  AN  h.  &  N.  RAILWAY  TRAIN  AT 
brock's  GAP — THEIR  ARREST  AND  THE  SUBSEQUENT 
ESCAPE  OP  RUBE. 

/^N  the  twenty-second  day  of  January  succeed- 
^^  ing  their  escape  from  Lamar,  Rube  and  Jim 
boarded  a  Louisville  and  Nashville  passenger  train, 
south  bound,  at  Brock's  Gap,  a  few  miles  south  of 
Birmingham.  Meantime  an  accurate  description 
of  the  brothers  had  been  obtained,  and  descriptive 
circulars  had  been  scattered  broadcast  by  the  offi- 
cials of  the  Southern  Express  Company,  one  of 
which  was  in  possession  of  Conductor  Callahan, 
on  whose  train  the  robbers  had  taken  passage.  He 
was  not  certain  of  their  identity,  and  simply  sent  a 
telegram  to  Chief  Gerald,  of  the  police  force  of 
Montgomery,  to  which  point  they  had  paid  fare, 
which  read  as  follows:  "Have  special  officer  meet 
nimiber  five." 

Captain  John  W.  Martin,  one  of  the  most  effi- 
cient officers  of  the  force,  met  the  train.  The  night 
was  rainy,  and  Captain  Martin  wore  a  rubber  coat 
and  slouch  hat,  which  completely  concealed  his 
identity.  The  train  pulled  into  the  depot  just  as 
Captsun  Martin  arrived,  and  he  inquired  ©f  the 


32  RUBB  BURROW. 

conductor  wliat  was  wanted.  The  conductor  re- 
plied, "I  think  those  two  fellows  walking  down  the 
track  there,  and  who  boarded  my  train  at  Brock's 
Gap,  are  the  Burrow  brothers." 

Captain  Martin  at  once  called  to  Officer  McGee, 
who  was  on  duty  at  the  depot,  and,  like  himself, 
attired  in  rain  coat  and  slouch  hat,  and  imparted 
to  him  the  information  received.  The  officers  thetj 
walked  toward  the  men,  who  were  some  distance 
away,  and  hailed  them,  saying:  "You  can  not  go 
through  that  railroad  cut  at  night." 

Rube  replied:  "We  are  going  to  the  country  to 
get  timber,  but  would  like  to  get  a  boarding-house 
for  the  night." 

Captain  Martin  said,  "We  are  going  up  town 
and  will  show  you  one." 

Rube,  thinking  the  officers  were  railroad  men, 

replied,  "All  right,"  and,  joining  them,   the  four 

men  walked   a   distance  of  about   a   half  a  mile, 

when,  on    reaching   the    police    station,   Captain 

Martin  inserted  the  key  in  the  door,  and  while  in 

the  act  of  unlocking  it  Rube  asked,  "What  place 

is  this?" 

Captain   Martin,  shoving  the  door,  which  was 

adjusted  with  a  heavy  spring,  half  open,  with  one 

hand,  laid  the  other  on  Rube's  shoulder  and  said : 

"This  is  the  office  of  the  Chief  of  Police,  and  you 

boys  may  consider  yourselves  under  arrest." 

"  I  reckon  not,"  replied  Rube,  and  straightway 

made  a  break  for  liberty. 


RUBE    BURROW.  33 

Captain  Martin  grappled  with  him,  and  the 
heavy  door  of  the  station-house  closing,  caught  his 
rubber  coat  in  a  vise-like  grip,  and  held  him  fast. 
Soon  freeing  himself,  however,  by  pulling  out  of 
his  coat,  he  dashed  after  Rube,  who  had  broken 
away,  and  after  running  some  thirty  paces,  turned 
and  saw  his  brother  Jim  down,  with  a  police  officer 
on  top  of  him.  Jim,  in  attempting  to  break  away, 
had  fallen,  in  the  scuffle  with  Officer  McGee,  over 
a  street  hydrant. 

At  this  moment  Rube,  seeing  the  officer  had 
started  in  pursuit,  turned  and  fled  like  a  deer  up 
the  street.  Neil  Bray,  a  printer,  being  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  street,  joined  the  officer  in  the 
pursuit  and  was  shot  by  Rube,  who  twice  fired 
upon  him,  one  of  the  shots  taking  effect  in  the  left 
lung  and  nearly  causing  his  death. 

Out  into  the  darkness  Rube  fled,  leaving  Jim 
in  the  hands  of  the  officers,  and  scaling  a  fence 
some  hundred  yards  ahead  he  was  soon  lost  to  his 
pursuers. 

Jim  was  taken  to  police  headquarters  and  gave 
his  name  as  Jim  Hankins,  and  said  the  other  man's 
name  was  Williams,  and  he  had  only  known  him 
three  weeks.  However,  while  en  route  to  Texar- 
kana,  he  confessed  his  identity,  and  said  to  Capt, 
Martin : 

"  I  am  Jim  Burrow,  and  the  other  man  is  my 
brother  Rube,  and  if  you  give  us  two  pistols  apiece 
"wc  are  not  afraid  of  any  two  men  living." 


34  RUBE   BURROW. 

He  further  stated  that  while  walking  up  the 
street  from  the  depot  he  became  satisfied  they  were 
in  the  hands  of  the  police,  but  as  Rube  had  the 
only  pistol,  he  having  failed  to  secure  his  in  his 
sudden  flight  from  his  home  in  Lamar  County,  he 
was  looking  for  Rube  to  make  the  first  break. 
Rube,  however,  suspected  nothing  until  he  reached 
the  police  station.  When  afterwards  chided  by 
friends  for  his  failure  to  assist  Jim,  in  view  of 
the  fact  that  the  latter  was  unarmed,  Rube  replied 
that  he  thought  the  whole  of  Montgomery  was 
after  him. 

The  next  day,  realizing  the  faux  pas  of  the  pre- 
vious night,  and  the  notorious  character  of  the  fugi- 
tive, the  entire  police  force  of  Montgomery  joined 
in  the  chase.  The  city,  its  suburban  districts  and 
the  adjacent  country  all  swarmed  with  anxious 
pursuers. 

No  trace  of  Rube,  however,  was  found  until 
just  before  dark,  when  Officers  Young  and  Hill, 
having  searched  a  negro  cabin  about  five  miles 
south  of  Montgomery,  without  result,  rode  off  in 
the  direction  of  the  city.  After  leaving  the  house 
a  negro  boy  came  running  after  them  and  informed 
the  officers  that  the  man  for  whom  they  were 
searching  had  just  gone  into  the  cabin  they  had 
left.  Rube,  hungry  and  exhausted,  had  seen  his 
pursuers  leave  the  cabin,  and  immediately  there- 
after went  in  and  asked  for  something  to  eAt. 

Young  and  Hill  rode  back  at  once  in  company 


RUBS   BUHROW.  35 

witli  tlie  boy,  and  instructed  him  to  go  in  and  tell 
the  man  to  come  out.  They  were  about  thirty 
paces  in  front  of  the  cabin,  when  Rube  came  to  the 
door,  and,  looking  out,  saw  a  solitary  horseman  in 
front  of  the  cabin.  He  deliberately  sat  down  in  a 
chair  in  the  doorway  and  pulled  off  his  boots, 
while  Officer  Young  dismounted.  Hill  had  cov- 
ered the  rear  of  the  cabin. 

Taking  his  boots  in  his  left  hand,  Rube  held 
his  trusty  revolver  in  his  right.  His  chief  forte 
was  a  running  fight.  With  the  agility  of  an  In- 
dian he  sprang  from  the  cabin  and  bounded  away 
to  the  swamps,  which  were  distant  only  about  one 
hundred  yards,  and  as  he  passed  in  front  of  Officer 
Young  the  latter  rested  his  breech-loading  shot  gun 
on  his  saddle  and  fired  the  contents  of  both  barrels 
in  quick  succession  at  the  fleeing  desperado,  when 
only  about  thirty  yards  distant. 

Rube  dropped  his  boots  and  hat,  and  to  the 
chagrin  of  the  officer,  when  he  picked  them  up, 
he  found  them  filled  with  number  eight  birdshot. 
He  had  substituted  these  for  his  loads  of  buckshot 
early  in  the  day  to  shoot  a  bird,  and  had  forgotten 
the  fact.  Rube  carried  to  the  day  of  his  death  the 
marks  of  the  birdshot,  which  filled  his  neck  and 
face,  but  were  powerless  to  stop  his  flight. 

Fifty  yards  further  on  a  countryman,  who  had 
joined  the  pursuing  party,  sprang  up  from  behind 
an  embankment,  and  was  in  the  act  of  taking  aim 
at   twenty  paces  distant,  his   gun  being  charged 


36  r  RUBB  BURROW. 

with  buckshot,  when  Rube  wheeled  and  covered 
him  with  his  revolver.  His  pursuer  dropped  flat 
to  the  earth  and  Rube  escaped.  He  was  wont  to 
revert  to  this  incident  frequently,  afterward  and 
laughingly  state  what  was  the  truth,  that  he  had 
fired  his  last  cartridge,  and  the  intrepid  courage 
with  which  he  turned  and  covered  his  pursuer 
with  an  empty  revolver  saved  his  life. 

Hatless  and  bare-footed,  the  friendless  felon 
now  found  himself,  at  dark  of  night,  in  a  wilder- 
ness of  swamp,  whose  treacherous  waters  were  cov- 
ered with  a  tangled  growth  of  brush  and  vines,  and 
chilled  with  the  winter's  cold.  Exhausted  with 
the  toils  of  the  day's  flight,  his  face  and  neck  smart- 
ing with  the  keen  pain  of  the  wounds  he  had  just 
received,  hungry  and  foot-sore,  his  body  quivering 
with  the  biting  cold — could  human  flesh  and  blood 
be  subjected  to  the  frenzy  of  sharper  distress  than 
that  which  faced  Rube  as  he  blindly  picked  his 
footing  through  this  terra  incognita  ?  Plodding 
through  bog  and  fen,  full  knee-deep  with  water, 
his  progress  was  beset  by  indescribable  perplex- 
ities, and  so  it  was  nearly  midnight  when  he 
emerged  from  the  marsh  into  a  field,  distant  only 
about  three  miles  from  the  point  at  which  he  had 
entered  it. 

A  flickering  light  in  a  negro  cabin  a  few  hun- 
dred yards  away,  on  the  slope  of  a  hill,  gave 
friendly  token  of  comfort  within,  but  Rube,  fear- 
ing that  some  one  of  his  pursuers  might  be  shel- 


RUBB    BURROW.  37 

tcred  there,  approached  it  with  cautious  step.  All 
was  still  within,  save  the  snoring  of  the  sleeping 
inmates,  and  in  his  dire  extremity  the  outlaw 
slowly  pulled  the  latch-string  which  hung  without 
and  entered.  With  bated  breath  he  looked  about 
him.  The  cheerful  log  fire  alone  beamed  for  him 
a  silent  welcome.  Noiselessly  taking  a  chair  he 
sat  himself  before  the  coveted  warmth  of  the 
lowly  hearthstone,  while  the  old  colored  man  and 
his  family  slept  on,  in  blissful  ignorance  of  the 
presence  of  their  midnight  visitor. 

The  robber  tarried  only  long  enough  to  warm 
his  chilled  frame  into  energy  for  the  task  of  further 
flight,  and  after  about  one  hour's  stay  he  quietly 
donned  the  shoes  of  the  black  pater  familtas^  and, 
stealthily  drawing  an  old  quilt  from  a  couch  in 
which  a  brood  of  pickaninnies  slept,  all  uncon- 
scious of  their  loss,  he  wrapped  it  about  him,  and, 
stepping  silently  out  into  the  darkness,  resumed 
his  journey. 

A  few  miles  further  on  he  stole  a  horse  from 
the  stable  of  a  farmer,  and,  mounting  its  bare  back, 
rode  hard  and  fast  till  daylight,  when  he  turned 
the  animal  loose  in  the  road,  and  betaking  himself 
to  the  protection  of  the  forests  that  covered  the 
bottom  lands  of  the  Alabama  River,  left  no  further 
trace  of  his  course.  Here  his  trail  was  lost  to  the 
detectives,  who,  after  an  arduous  and  vain  pursuit 
of  several  days,  abandoned  all  further  eflfort  in  that 
vicinity. 


3S  &USS  £USJbOW. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

RUBE  BURROW  RETURNS  TO  LAMAR  COUNTY — JOS  JACK- 
SON JOINS  HIM  IN  MARCH,  1 888 — THEIR  TRIP  INTO 
BALDWIN   COUNTY,  ALABAMA. 

"p  UBE  BURROW,  having  effected  his  escape  at 
-^^  Montgomery,  and  successfully  eluded  pursuit, 
it  was  supposed  by  the  detectives  that  he  would 
go  down  into  southern  Alabama  or  Florida,  as 
the  presence  of  himself  and  brother  at  Mont- 
gomery seemed  to  indicate.  Rube,  however,  was 
restless  and  anxious  concerning  the  fate  of  Jim, 
and  at  once  made  his  way  back  into  Lamar 
County.  Soon  after  reaching  home  he  learned,  for 
the  first  time,  of  his  brother's  incarceration  at  Tex- 
arkana,  and  also  that  his  old  comrade,  William 
Brock,  had  disclosed  the  whole  history  of  their 
operations  in  Texas,  and  particularly  of  the  Genoa, 
Ark.,  affair. 

Rube  was  heard  to  say:  "Never  mind;  when  I 
get  my  partner,  Joe  Jackson,  from  Texas,  I  will 
wreak  my  vengeance  upon  the  Southern  Express 
Company."  Rube  knew,  although  he  had  never 
participated  in  an}-  of  the  many  robberies  which 
the  Sam  Bass  gang  had  committed,  that  the  name 
of  "Joe  Jackson"  was  a  terror  wherever  the  fame 


RUBE   BURROW.  35 

of  the  Bass  gang  was  known,  and  that  Joe  Jack- 
son was  the  only  member  of  that  brutal  band  of 
highwaymen  who  had  escaped  justice  when  their 
chief,  Sam  Bass,  was  shot,  with  a  small  remnant  of 
his  followers,  in  the  streets  of  Round  Rock,  Texas. 
It  was  thus  he  sought  to  herald,  as  the  comrade  he 
was  about  to  select  to  fill  his  brother's  place,  the 
guerrilla  who  had  unfurled  the  black  banner  at 
Lawrence,  Kansas,  under  the  leadership  of  the  no- 
torious Quantrell,  and  who  had  drifted  into  Texas 
to  join  Bass  and  his  unholy  gang. 

While  in  northern  Texas  in  1886,  Rube  had 
met  a  young  Alabamian  who  went  under  the  name 
of  Lewis  Waldrip.  Rube  had  Waldrip  in  his  em- 
ployment while  herding  cattle,  and  had  witnessed 
his  unflinching  courage  on  several  occasions  while 
associated  with  him.  Waldrip  had,  in  confidence, 
given  Rube  the  story  of  the  troubles  which  had 
caused  him  to  flee  from  his  native  State  and  seek 
refuge  in  Texas,  Soon  after  his  return  to  Lamar 
County,  in  February,  1888,  he  wrote  Waldrip  to 
join  him  there.  The  correspondence  was  con- 
ducted through  Jim  Cash,  and  about  the  first  of 
March,  1888,  at  the  house  of  the  latter,  the  two 
men,  who  had  separated  in  1886  in  Texas,  met 
again  for  the  first  time.  Rube  recited  his  recent 
history,  and  acting  upon  the  advice  of  his  friend, 
whom  he  had  christened  "Joe  Jackson,"  the  two 
left  for  southern  Alabama,  as  Rube  had  knowledge 
of  tlic  fact  that  the  vicinity  in  which  he  was  then 


40  RUBE   BURROW. 

hiding  was  being  constantly  watched  by  detect- 
ives. 

Leaving  Lamar  County  afoot,  the  pair  traveled 
through  the  woods  until  they  reached  Columbus, 
Miss.  They  went  thence,  partly  by  rail  and  partly 
by  boat,  to  Baldwin  County,  Ala.,  locating  at  Dun- 
naway's  log  camp,  on  Lovette's  Creek,  some  forty 
miles  from  any  railway  line,  and  in  one  of  the  most 
sparsely  settled  sections  of  southern  Alabama.  The 
trail  thither,  by  the  circuitous  foot  journey  out  of 
Lamar  County,  had  been  completely  covered,  and 
here  Rube  and  his  newly  found  comrade  were  not 
only  lost  to  the  detectives,  but  to  all  the  world  be- 
sides, save  the  little  squad  of  day-laborers  who 
gathered  about  the  camp-fire  at  nightfall,  after  the 
day's  labor  was  over.  This  rustic  audience  Rube 
was  wont  to  regale  with  many  a  humorous  tale. 
Mr.  Ward,  as  he  was  familiarly  called,  was  the  hero 
of  many  an  adventurous  story,  and  the  very  life  and 
humor  of  the  camp.  Rube's  fame  had  preceded 
him,  even  into  this  retired  spot,  and  he  would  often 
bring  up  the  subject  of  his  own  outlawry,  that  he 
might  get  an  expression  from  those  about  him  as 
to  the  thrilling  adventures  of  which  he  himself  was 
the  hero. 

After  a  stay  of  some  three  weeks,  during  which 
Rube  and  his  partner  labored  not  only  with  dili- 
gence but  with  increasing  skill  (for  here  it  was 
that  Rube  was  heard  to  say  that  John  Barnes,  who 
afterwards  figured  somewhat  in  his   final  arreet, 


RUBR  BtTRHOW.  4t 

taught  him  how  to  saw  logs),  the  camp  was  broken 
up,  Mr.  Dunnaway  moving  his  force  to  a  point  near 
Perdido,  a  station  on  the  l/ouisville  and  Nashville 
Railway. 

Rube  and  Joe  then,  about  May  ist,  left  the 
camp,  for  the  reason,  perhaps,  that  the  locality  was 
more  public,  and  for  the  additional  reason  that 
Rube  began  to  conceive  the  idea  that  he  could  find 
a  safe  refuge  among  friends  in  Ivamar  County,  and 
might  render  some  help  to  his  brother,  who  was 
then  a  prisoner  in  Arkansas.  Setting  out,  the  two 
men  walked  until  they  reached  Forest,  Miss.,  where 
Rube  purchased  horses  for  the  two.  At  Dixon, 
Miss.,  Joe,  finding  his  horse  a  poor  traveler,  traded 
him  for  the  "  snorting  steed "  which  he  subse- 
quently rode  in  the  Duck  Hill  robbery,  and  which 
the  detectives  finally  traced  from  the  scene  of  that 
robbery  into  Lamar  County.  From  Dixon  they 
rode  via  Oxford,  and  thence  to  BerryhilPs,  a  broth- 
er-in-law of  Rube  Burrow,  who  moved,  soon  after 
his  marriage  to  Rube's  favorite  sister,  into  that 
section  of  Mississippi.  Here  they  remained  two 
days,  and  about  the  15th  of  May  rode  into  Lramar 
County. 


42  RUBfi   BURROW. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   RIDE   INTO   ARKANSAS  TO   LIBERATE    JIM    BURROW — 
FAILURE   AND    RETURN   TO   MISSISSIPPI. 

f~\^  his  arrival  in  Lamar  County  Rube  Burrow 
^-^  anxiously  inquired  after  Jim's  fate.  Jim  Cash, 
the  brother-in-law,  had  visited  Little  Rock,  where 
Jim  was  confined  in  the  penitentiary  for  safe 
keeping,  and  had  learned  that  he  would  be  taken 
about  September  5th  to  Texarkana  for  trial.  Rube 
brooded  over  the  fatal  blunder  which  had  re- 
sulted in  Jim's  capture  at  Montgomery,  and  blamed 
himself  all  the  more  because  it  was  against  the 
judgment  of  his  brother  that  they  had  boarded 
the  unlucky  train.  His  proud  spirit  chafed  at  the 
thought,  also,  that  he  alone,  being  armed,  should 
have  been  forced  to  flee  and  leave  him  to  his  un- 
happy fate.  He  therefore  resolved,  at  all  hazard, 
to  attempt  his  rescue. 

One  moonless  night  in  the  latter  part  of  August 
Rube  and  Joe  Jackson  rode  out  of  Lamar  County 
for  the  avowed  purpose  of  taking  Jim  from  the 
hands  of  his  captors  while  en  route  to  Texarkana 
for  trial.  Joe  Jackson,  after  his  capture,  told  how 
Rube  rose  in  his  stirrups,  as  he  galloped  away  over 
the  hills  of  Lamar  County  at  dead  of  night,  and 


RUBB   BURROW.  4S 

swore  that  he  would  carry  the  boon  of  freedom  to 
his  luckless  brother  at  whatever  hazard  or  peril. 

"We  will  board  the  train,  shoot  the  officers 
down,  and  make  Jim  a  free  man,  or  die  in  the  at- 
tempt. Will  you  give  me  your  hand  and  pledge 
me  your  honor,  Joe,  to  do  your  part?"  asked  Rube. 

"I  will,"  answered  Joe,  and  grasping  each  the 
other's  hand  they  rode  forth  with  renewed  courage 
and  hope. 

On  to  Okolona,  Miss.,  thence  to  Sardis,  through 
Tate  County,  and  on  to  Helena,  Ark.,  they  crossed 
the  Mississippi  River  at  the  latter  point,  and  rode 
thence  in  a  southwesterly  direction  towards  Pine 
Bluff,  and  thence  to  Arkadelphia,  Ark.,  a  station  on 
the  Iron  Mountain  Railway,  sixty-five  miles  south 
of  Little  Rock. 

Ascertaining  definitely  the  date  of  his  trial  at 
Texarkana  before  leaving  Lamar  County,  they  de- 
cided to  attempt  the  rescue  at  one  of  the  smaller 
stations  on  the  Iron  Mountain  Railway,  either  on 
the  north  or  south  bank  of  the  Oauchita  River, 
where,  if  successful,  pursuit  could  not  be  so  readily 
organized,  and  where  the  dense  timber  in  the  adja- 
cent bottoms  would  furnish  ample  cover  for  escape. 

At  Donaldson,  at  Malvern,  and  adjacent  sta- 
tions, these  determined  men  boarded  train  after 
train,  with  cocked  revolvers  secreted  and  ready  for 
the  bold  endeavor,  and,  finally,  moving  down  to 
Curtis,  a  small  flag  station,  they  learned  that  the 
last  sttuth-bound  train  of  that  date,  September  gtii, 


44  RUBE  BURROW. 

was  not  scheduled  to  stop  at  Curtis,  and  their  only 
hope  to  search  it  was  to  ride  to  Arkadelphia,  fifteen 
miles  north. 

It  was  only  one  hour  before  the  train  was  due 
at  Arkadelphia.  Rube  said,  "We  will  make  the 
trip,  Joe,  or  kill  our  horses."  The  men  were  well 
mounted,  and  defeat  and  disappointment  had  so 
far  only  sharpened  their  energies  for  the  difficult 
task  before  them. 

This  was  Sunday  night,  and  Rube  knew  it  was 
the  last  train  his  brother  could  be  expected  on,  as 
his  case  was  set  for  trial  the  following  morning. 
It  was  a  ride  which  had  the  possible  alternative  of 
death  to  the  gallant  steeds  that  bore  them  onward, 
liberty  to  an  ill-fated  brother,  or  grief  and  chagrin 
at  the  failure  of  a  project  on  which  Rube  had  set 
his  heart  with  desperate  devotion.  Onward  they 
rode,  at  breathless  speed,  faster  and  still  faster,  till 
the  hill-tops  of  Arkadelphia  hove  in  sight.  At  the 
same  time  the  shrill  whistle  of  the  engine  an- 
nounced the  approach  of  the  train  bearing  the 
manacled  brother  toward  Texarkana,  and  steam- 
ing into  the  railway  station,  paused  but  a  moment, 
as  if  to  take  breath,  and  bounded  on,  leaving  the 
rescuers,  who  were  several  hundred  yards  away,  to 
their  bitter  disappointment. 


RUBB   BURROW.  ^5 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

BU3E  BURROW  AND  JOE  JACKSON  LEAVB  ARKANSAS — 
THEY  TURN  UP  AS  COTTON  PICKERS  IN  TATE  COUNTY, 
MISSISSIPPI. 

/CRESTFALLEN  and  dispirited  at  the  failure 
^^  of  his  long  cherished  project  to  release  his 
brother  Jim,  Rube  decided  to  abandon  all  further 
eflfort  in  that  direction  and  set  out  on  the  re- 
turn journey.  Joe  Jackson  proposed  to  visit  Hot 
Springs,  but  Rube  did  not  care  to  expose  himself 
to  the  risk  of  being  identified  by  the  cosmopolitan 
population  of  that  American  Baden-Baden,  and  re- 
solved to  return  immediately  to  the  east  side  of  the 
river.  It  has  been  popularly  supposed  that  Rube 
Burrow  was  accustomed  to  visit  metropolitan  places, 
frequent  gambling  houses  and  saloons,  and,  with  a. 
reckless  disregard  of  his  personal  safety,  herald  him- 
self as  a  cattle  king,  or  play  the  role  of  gambler. 
Such  was  not  the  case.  Bold  and  fearless  as  he 
was  in  pursuit  of  his  chosen  vocation,  he  kept  aloof 
from  populous  localities.  His  long  immunity  from 
arrest  was  due  chiefly  to  the  fact  that,  secluding 
himself  in  the  wilds  of  the  forest  and  shunning  his 
fellow-men  as  far  as  possible,  he  habited  the  earth 
like  a  beast  of  prey. 


46  RUBE   BURROW. 

The  two  men,  on  their  return  trip,  traveled  in 
a  northeasterly  direction,  avoiding  the  public  high- 
ways wherever  practicable.  Crossing  White  River 
at  St.  Charles,  they  rode  leisurely  on  towards  He- 
lena, and,  under  cover  of  darkness,  crossed  the  river 
at  that  point  about  one  week  after  leaving  Arka- 
delphia.  Riding  up  the  east  bank  of  the  Missis- 
sippi to  a  point  about  fifteen  miles  north  of  He- 
lena they  debouched  from  the  river  bottoms,  push- 
ing their  way  through  bog  and  swamp  for  fifteen 
miles  or  more,  over  ground  never  perhaps  covered 
by  horsemen  before,  and  where  no  sign  of  human 
habitation  existed.  The  robbers  were  seeking  a 
secure  retreat,  and  this  they  found  in  Tate  County, 
Mississippi,  on  the  farm  of  Fletcher  Stevens,  about 
eighteen  miles  from  Senatobia,  a  station  on  the 
Illinois  Central  Railway.  Meantime  the  detec- 
tives of  the  Southern  Express  Company  had 
searched  every  nook  and  corner  of  southern  Ala- 
bama, made  several  expeditions  into  Florida,  and 
had  also  become  satisfied  that  Rube  was  not  in 
Lamar  County. 

In  the  early  part  of  September  the  fact  was  de- 
veloped that  a  man  answering  Rube's  description 
had  been  seen  near  St.  Charles,  Ark.,  and  the  trail 
was  taken  up  and  followed  into  Helena,  and  thence 
east  of  the  river  a  few  miles,  but  all  trace  was  lost 
in  the  ride  through  the  swamps,  which  Rube  had 
correctly  divined  would  foil  his  pursuers  if  they 
should  ascertain  his  presence  in  tjiat  locality.    The 


RtJBB  BURROW.  47 

ferm  of  Fletcher  Stevens,  located  as  it  was  in  a 
thinly  settled  section,  and  remote  from  railway 
lines,  furnished  a  safe  retreat  for  Rube  and  his 
companion,  and  here  they  hired  themselves  as  day 
laborers  and  began  the  business  of  picking  cotton 
about  October  i,  1888.  Rube  was  quite  an  adept 
at  picking  cotton,  but  Joe  proved  rather  an  awk- 
ward hand,  as  Mr.  Stevens  afterward  reported; 
and  so  Rube,  at  the  price  of  fifty  cents  per  hun- 
dred, earned  the  larger  share  of  the  compensation 
received  for  their  toil. 

Strange  to  state,  these  men  labored  diligently 
and  industriously  on  this  Tate  County  farm  from 
October  ist  till  about  December  i,  1888,  never  once 
leaving  the  place.  At  rare  intervals  they  would 
take  their  pistols  down  into  the  swamps  and  prac- 
tice shooting  at  a  target  with  one  or  two  of  their 
white  co-laborers,  and  in  a  quiet  way  made  some 
reputation  for  their  skill  as  marksmen.  Both  Rube 
and  Joe,  it  is  said,  could  hit  a  silver  dollar  nine 
times  out  of  ten,  with  their  forty-five  caliber  Colt's 
revolvers,  at  a  distance  of  seventy-five  yards.  Dur- 
ing their  stay  on  the  farm  they  passed  for  brothers, 
Rube  assuming  the  name  of  Charlie  and  Joe  the 
name  of  Henry  Davis.  Their  general  demeanor 
was  so  quiet  and  unobstrusive  that  they  betrayed 
no  suspicion  of  their  real  identity  ;  and  although 
farmer  Stevens,  a  very  respectable  and  law-abid- 
ing citizen,  did  not  relish  the  fact  that  his  hired 
help  carried  such  murderous-looking  fire-arms,  he 


48  ntJBS  BURROW. 

ffave  little  tliong\c  to  the  matter.  On  or  about 
the  first  of  December  the  cotton  pickers  asked  for 
their  pay,  which  was  given  them.  Mounting  their 
horses,  which  were  in  fine  condition  from  the  long 
rest  they  had  enjoyed,  they  rode  quietly  away  from 
the  scene  of  their  plodding  labors. 


1«JBK   BURROW.  49 


CHAPTER  IX. 

JIM  BURROW  ARRAIGNED — TRIAL  POSTPONED — HIS  RE- 
TURN TO  LITTLE  ROCK  PRISON — LETTERS  HOME — 
HIS     DEATH     IN     PRISON. 

IV/TE  AN  WHILE  Jim  Burrow,  at  his  preliminary 
-*-^-*^  examination  at  Texarkana,  soon  after  his 
capture,  admitteci  his  guilt  when  confronted  with 
the  confession  of  Wm.  Brock  and  the  strong  chain 
of  circumstantial  evidence  that  had  been  woven 
about  him.  But  while  ruminating  in  the  peniten- 
tiary, during  the  interval  preceding  the  fall  term  of 
the  Miller  County  Circuit  Court,  he  had  evidently 
reconsidered  his  original  purpose  and  determined 
on  making  a  defense  and  risking  the  chances  of  a 
jury  trial.  Consequently,  on  September  lo,  1888, 
the  day  succeeding  the  failure  of  Rube  and  Joe 
Jackson  to  effect  his  rescue  at  Arkadelphia,  his  case 
was  called  for  trial  at  Texarkana,  on  the  charge  of 
robbery  of  the  express  car  at  Genoa,  Ark.  His 
attorney  filed  an  application  for  a  continuance,  on 
av-^count  of  the  absence  of  witnesses  in  Alabama, 
bv  whom  he  alleged  he  could  prove  an  alibi,  and 
his  case  was  thereupon  continued,  and  he  was  re- 
turned to  the  state-prison  at  Little  Rock,  pending 
the  spring  term  of  the  Court.     Two  days  after  his 


50  RUBE  BURROW. 

return  there  he  wrote  to  J.  A.  Cash  and  his  wife 
the  following  letters: 

Sept.  14,  1888. 
Mr.  J.  A.  Cash  : 

I  am  not  well  but  not  very  sick.     I  have  put  off  my 

trial.     3'ou  Send  $20.00  to  my  lawyers  if  you  get  the  order 

from  them,     tell  Elizabeth  and  the  children  that  I  would 

like  to  see  them.     James  you  have  all  the  money  on  hand 

by  the  ist  of  Oct.  that  you  can.     I  will  send  one  of  my 

lawj^ers  back  there  on  the  1 5th  of  November,  he  is  about 

such  a  lawyer  as   Frank  Summers.     You  was  speaking 

about  furnishing  me  a  lawyer  from  that  county.     When 

my  lawyer  comes  back  to  you  send  him  to  Summers,  he 

will  take  the  case,     don't  any  of  you  come  out  until  I 

write  for  you  to  come — they  got  three  bills  against  me  for 

train  robber>',  and  the  other  two  for  attempt  to  murder.     I 

thirfk  I  will  come  clear.     You  collect  in  my  money  as  fast 

as  you  can.  J.  B.  Burrow. 

Mrs.  M.  E.  Burrow : 

As  I  feel  better  this  morning  than  I  did  yesterday  I 
will  write  you  a  few  lines.  Elizabeth  you  all  rest  easy 
about  me  for  I  think  I  will  best  my  case — my  trial  is  set  to 
come  up  the  first  Tuesda}-  in  March.  You  have  $200.00  on 
hand  by  the  15th  of  November  to  pay  my  Lawyers  with. 
One  of  them  is  a  better  lawj-er  than  Frank  Summers  is. 
So  if  you  could  employ  Sumers  to  help  them  in  my  case  it 
would  be  an  advantage  to  me  to  have  counsel  from  my  own 
state.  Tell  pa  that  I  will  answer  his  letter  soon.  Tell  the 
ebildren  that  I  will  see  them  again.  Brock's  trial  was  put 
off  ao  be  oould  be  a  witness  against  me.  Write  all  of  the 
news.  J.  B.  Burrow  to  Mrs.  Burrow. 

But  Jim,  not  being  a  convict  and  therefore  not 
reqturcd  to  labor,  soon  began  to  chafe  under  the 


I 


WILLIAM     &ROCK. 


RUBE   BURROW.  5* 

restraint  of  prison  life,  which  was  aggravated  by  a 
depressing  attack  of  nostalgia,  which  soon  devel- 
oped a  fever,  resulting  in  delirium.  During  his 
ravings,  which  were  continuous  for  about  a  week, 
he  talked  about  his  wife  and  children,  his  home  in 
Alabama,  the  stolen  money  he  had  hidden,  his  boy- 
hood adventures  and  his  experiences  in  Texas,  but 
his  statements  were  so  incoherently  mingled  that 
it  was  impossible  to  make  an  intelligent  narration 
of  them.  On  October  5,  1888,  his  earthly  career 
was  terminated  by  death,  and  his  unhonored  grave 
is  surrounded  by  those  of  such  hapless  fellows  as 
have  succumbed  to  the  rigors  of  prison  experience, 
leaving  their  bodies  with  their  captors,  while  thek 
spirits  have  slipped  through  the  bars  and  gone  for 
fiaal  trial  before  the  Last  Tribunal. 


$t  KUS£   BURROW. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THK  DUCK   HII,!,,    MISS.,   ROBBERY — THE   KILLING  OF  PAS- 
SENGER CHESTER  HUGHES. 

/^N  the  cold  and  cheerless  night  of  December 
^^  15,  1888,  the  north-bound  express  train  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railway,  which  left  New  Orleans 
for  Chicago  at  seven  o'clock  A.  m.  pulled  into  the 
station  of  Duck  Hill,  Miss.,  twenty-five  miles  south 
of  Grenada,  thirteen  hours  later.  The  manner  in 
which  the  engine  was  boarded  and  the  train 
stopped  is  best  told  in  the  language  of  Albert  Law, 
the  engineer  in  charge  of  the  locomotive.    He  says: 

"  I  pulled  out  of  Duck  Hill  Station  at  10:05 
o'clock  p.  M.  The  fireman  called  to  me  to  look  out; 
that  there  was  a  car  of  cotton  ahead  on  the  side 
track.  I  pulled  slowly  by,  in  order  to  avoid  ignit- 
ing the  cotton  by  sparks  from  the  engine,  and  when 
I  passed  the  cotton  the  fireman  said :  All  right,  let 
her  go.'  I  started  ahead  lively,  and  presently  saw 
the  robbers  climb  up  on  my  engine  from  the  east 
side. 

"The  smaller  man  got  on  first.  I  thought  they 
were  tramps,  and  was  in  the  act  of  slowing  up  to 
put  them  oflf  when  the  smaller  man  covered  me 
with  a  big  pistol  and  said, '  Don't  stop  heare!  gp  (ml 


RUKE    BURROW.  53 

goon!'  I  then  saw  that  the  men  w-re  masked. 
I  asked,  'Where  do  you  want  to  stop:'  Ha  re- 
plied, 'I'll  tell  you  where  to  stop.'  I  palled  along, 
and  when  we  had  gone  about  a  mile  he  said: 

'"Stop  here — stop  now!'  I  put  the  air  on  full 
and  stopped  as  quickly  as  I  could. 

"The  little  man  did  all  the  talking.  When  we 
stopped  he  got  down  on  the  ground  and  fired  his 
revolver  two  or  three  times.  The  train  had  hardly 
stopped  when  he  commenced  shooting.  The  other 
man  said, '  Get  down ! '  My  fireman  and  myself 
were  then  made  to  go  ahead,  on  the  east  side  ol 
the  train,  to  the  express  car.  Here  they  stoppe  1 
us,  and  the  tall  man  called  out  to  the  messenger, 
'Open  up!  Open  up!'  The  messenger  looked  out 
of  the  door  and  the  tall  man  said,  '  Where  is  your 
other  man?'  The  messenger  said,  'I  have  no  other 
man — no  one  here  but  me,'  to  which  the  reply  was, 
'  Help  this  man  into  the  carj! '  The  messenger  be- 
ing covered  by  the  revolver  of  the  larger  man,  ex- 
tended his  hand  and  helped  him  into  the  car. 

"About  this  time  Mr.  Wilkerson,  the  conductor, 
came  out  of  one  of  the  rear  coaches  with  his  Ian- 
tern,  and  the  smaller  man,  who  stood  guarding  us, 
told  me  to  tell  him  to  go  back.  I  did,  and  the  con- 
ductor went  back,  but  in  a  couple  of  minutes  came 
out  again.  I  saw  two  forms  get  out  of  the  car. 
They  had  no  lights.  I  said,  'You  had  better  go 
back,  or  they  will  shoot  you;  they  are  robbing  the 
express  car,' 


54  RUBE   BURROW. 

"The  fireman  and  I  were  between  tke  robber 
and  the  rest  of  the  train.  He  kept  us  in  front  of 
him  as  a  sort  of  breastwork.  Some  one  in  the 
direction  of  the  passenger  coaches  called  out: 
'Law,  where  are  you?'  When  I  answered  a  voice 
said :  *  Look  out !  I  am  going  to  shoot ! '  I 
stepped  back  from  the  train  and  the  firing  com- 
menced, and  I  broke  and  ran  for  the  woods,  which 
were  close  by." 

Meantime  the  robber  who  had  entered  the  car 
handed  a  sack  to  Southern  Express  Messenger 
Harris  and  bade  him  deliver  up  the  contents  of 
his  safe.  At  this  juncture  the  firing  on  the  out- 
side of  the  car  had  commenced,  and  advancing  to 
the  door,  still  keeping  an  eye  on  the  messenger, 
the  robber  fired  three  shots  into  the  air.  Con- 
ductor Wilkerson  had,  on  first  coming  out,  taken 
in  the  situation,  and  going  back  into  the  coaches 
announced  to  the  passengers  that  the  train  was 
being  robbed,  and  asked  who  would  assist  him. 
Chester  Hughes,  a  brave  young  fellow,  from  Jack- 
ton,  Tenn.,  arose  quickly  and  said,  "  I  will,  if  I  can 
get  anything  to  shoot  with."  Two  colored  men 
seated  near  by  had  each  a  thirty-eight  caliber 
Winchester  rifle,  and  these  weapons  were  quickly 
gathered  by  the  conductor  and  his  gallant  passen- 
ger, and  loading  them  with  cartridges  furnished 
them  by  the  owners  they  went  forth  to  do  battle 
■with  the  robbers.  It  was  conductor  Wilkerson  who 
had  warned  the  engineer  to  protect  himself,  and  he 
fired  the  first  shot  at  the  robbers. 


RUBE   BURROW.  35 

Advancing  abreast  of  each  other  these  brave 
men  fired  shot  after  shot  at  the  dark  form  of  the 
robber  who  stood  as  a  sentinel  on  the  outside  of 
the  car,  and  who  unflinchingly  held  his  ground,  re- 
turning with  steady  aim  charge  after  charge  from 
his  trusty  revolver,  until  finally  young  Hughes 
dropped  his  Winchester,  and  exclaiming  "I  am 
shot!"  fell  to  the  earth.  Wilkerson  raised  the 
brave  young  fellow  to  his  feet  and  dragged  his 
unconscious  and  bleeding  form  into  the  coach, 
and  returning  to  the  steps  of  the  front  coach  re- 
newed the  firing  at  the  robbers. 

The  robber  had,  meantime,  secured  the  money 
from  the  messenger  (about  two  thousand  dollars), 
and  backing  out  of  the  car,  still  holding  his  pis- 
tol on  the  messenger,  joined  his  comrade  on  the 
ground,  and  under  the  fire  of  the  conductor  both 
retreated  to  the  woods  hard  by. 

Chester  Hughes  had  been  in  charge  of  a  wid- 
owed sister,  who,  with  several  small  children,  were 
e7i  route  to  Jackson,  Tenn.  The  sister  knew  noth- 
ing of  her  brother's  participation  in  the  fight  with 
the  robbers  until  he  was  carried  back  into  the 
coach,  when  she  prostrated  herself  in  affectionate 
embrace  over  his  body,  from  which  life  was  fast 
ebbing  away.  The  scene  was  an  agonizing  and 
aflfecting  one. 

The  unerring  aim  of  the  robber  had  sent  three 
shots  through  the  body  of  young  Hughes,  all  en- 
tering the  stomach  within  a  radius  of  six  inches, 


56  RUBE   BURROW. 

and  the  unfortunate  but  daring  young  fellow  lived 
only  a  few  minutes.  The  same  train  on  which  he 
had  erstwhile  embarked  in  the  vigor  of  health  and 
buoyant  spirits,  bore  his  lifeless  form  to  the  home 
of  his  widowed  mother  at  Jackson,  Tenn. 

The  Southern  Express  Company  and  the  Illi- 
nois Central  Railway  promptly  presented  his  grief- 
stricken  mother  with  a  fitting  testimonial  of  appre- 
ciation for  the  heroic  conduct  of  her  son.      While 

♦'  On  Fame's  eternal  camping  ground 
Their  silent  tents  are  spread, 
And  glory  guards,  with  solemn  round. 
The  bivouac  of  the  dead," 

the  name  of  Chester  Hughes  will  be  enrolled 
among  the  bravest  of  the  brave. 

The  whole  country  was  electrified  with  horror 
at  the  brutal  murder  of  a  passenger  on  one  of  the 
great  trunk  lines  of  railway,  in  one  of  the  most 
populous  districts  of  the  South,  by  train  robbers, 
and  it  was  determined  that  no  expense  or  labor 
should  be  spared  in  bringing  the  criminals  to  jus- 
tice. General  Manager  C.  A.  Beck  and  Superin- 
tendent J.  G.  Mann,  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
way, were  in  Memphis  in  a  special  car  at  the  time. 
During  the  night  a  violent  and  very  general  rain 
storm  had  prevailed,  and  the  telegraph  wires  were 
down  in  many  places.  The  news  of  the  robbery 
did  not,  therefore,  reach  Memphis  until  about 
midnight.  The  railroad  and  express  ofiicials  re- 
mained at  the   telegraph  office  all  night,  seeking 


RUBE   BURROW.  57 

the  details,  and  left  about  daylight  for  the  scene  of 
the  robbery.  The  aid  of  the  Pinkertons  was  again 
summoned,  and  several  of  the  most  expert  detect- 
ives of  the  Chicago  agency  soon  arrived  at  Duck 
Hill. 

About  a  month  prior  to  the  Duck  Hill  robbery 
the  United  States  Express  Company  had  been 
robbed  at  Derby,  Miss.,  a  station  sixty-five  miles 
north  of  New  Orleans,  on  the  Queen  and  Crescent 
Railway,  by  Eugene  Bunch,  a  man  who  is  sup- 
posed by  some  persons*  even  at  this  day,  to  be 
identical  with  Rube  Burrow.  Eugene  Bunch,  a 
native  of  Louisiana,  and  long  a  resident  of  Texas, 
bore  a  remarkable  resemblance  to  Rube  Burrow. 
The  description,  ..bout  thirty-six  years  old,  weight 
one  hundred  and  seventy  pounds,  height  six  feet 
one  inch,  light  complexion,  auburn  hair,  long, 
drooping  mustache,  blue  eyes,  raw-boned  and 
stoop-shouldered,  would  fit  either  Rube  Burrow  or 
Eugene  Bunch.  Apart  from  this  personal  resem- 
blance they  bore  nothing  else  in  common  except 
the  title  of  train  robber.  Their  habits  and  meth- 
ods of  life  were  strikingly  dissimilar.  Bunch  was 
a  man  of  some  education,  had  taught  school  in 
Louisiana  and  Texas,  and  was  for  a  long  period 
qf  time  a  County  Court  Clerk  in  Texas,  while  Bur- 
row was  a  coarse,  unlettered  fellow,  and  it  may  be 
stated,  as  a  certainty,  that  these  men  never  had  any 
association  as  train  robbers  or  otherwise. 

The  Pinkerton  detectives,  on  their  arrival  at 


Jt  RUBE   BURROW. 

Duek  Hill,  were  unable  to  find  a  trace  of  the  rob- 
bers. There  was  no  clew  from  which  to  begin 
a  search  for  them.  Whence  the  robbers  came, 
whither  they  had  gone,  whether  on  horseback  or 
afoot,  was  not  known.  At  this  juncture  Detective 
D.  C.  Hennessey,  of  New  Orleans,  who  recently  met 
his  death  at  the  hands  of  assassins  in  that  city,  and 
a  man  of  undoubted  ability  in  his  profession,  hav- 
ing received  a  descriptive  circular  of  the  robbers, 
telegraphed  the  officials  of  the  Southern  Express 
Company  as  follows:  "Description  of  the  robbers 
received.  I  am  well  aware  as  to  who  they  are,  ^nd 
am  satisfied  I  can  get  them." 

A  conference  was  at  once  arranged  with  Hen- 
nessey, who  declared  the  Duck  Hill  robbery  to  be 
the  work  of  Eugene  Bunch.  An  unfortunate  com- 
bination of  circumstances  here  ensued  to  corrobo- 
rate Hennessey's  view.  Bunch  answered  Burrow's 
description  with  great  exactness.  The  former  was 
reliably  ascertained  to  have  been  in  northern  Lou- 
isiana a  few  days  prior  to  the  robbery,  and,  there- 
fore, within  easy  reach  of  Duck  Hill;  Bunch  had 
an  intimate  friend  who  answered  Engineer  Law's 
description  of  the  smaller  man  who  stood  guard 
over  him  at  Duck  Hill. 

The  detectives  had,  meantime,  traced  two  men 
riding  out  south  from  the  scene  of  the  robbery  in 
the  direction  of  Honey  Island,  in  the  Pearl  River, 
a  favorite  resort  with  Bunch ;  and,  still  more  re- 
markable, one  of  the  horses  ridden  corresponded 


RTJBB    BURROW.  39 

with  the  one  owned  by  Bunch's  comrade  in  Lou- 
isiana, who  was  known  to  have  assisted  him  in  his 
flight  from  Derby,  Miss.  The  chase  that  followed, 
therefore,  under  the  leadership  of  the  Pinkertons, 
was  organized  to  find  Bunch,  and  not  Burrow. 
From  New  Orleans  to  Texas,  to  Monterey  and 
Mexico  City,  to  Los  Angeles  and  San  Diego,  atid 
even  to  San  Francisco,  the  detectives  pursued 
Bunch  until,  just  as  his  capture  seemed  certain  at 
San  Francisco,  he  eluded  the  detectives  by  taking 
a  Pacific  coast  steamer.  The  chase  was  then,  after 
months  of  labor,  abandoned. 

Meantime,  in  a  quiet  way,  the  detectives  of  the 
Southern  Express  Company  were  at  work  on  the 
theory  that  Rube  Burrow  was  the  leader  in  the 
robbery  at  Duck  Hill.  It  was  discovered  that 
Rube  Burrow  and  Joe  Jackson  rode  away  from  the 
farm  of  Fletcher  Stevens  in  Tate  County,  Miss., 
on  December  i,  1888,  and  after  paying  a  visit  to 
Rube's  brother-in-law,  Berryhill,  who  lives  eighteen 
miles  from  Oxford,  proceeded  to  Water  Valley, 
Miss.,  where  they  spent  the  night ;  and  that  going 
thence  to  Duck  Hill  they  robbed  the  train  in  the 
manner  described.  After  mounting  their  horses, 
tethered  in  the  woods  some  half  a  mile  from  the 
spot  on  which  the  robbery  occurred,  they  rode 
through  a  drenching  rain  a  distance  of  forty  miles 
by  daylight.  The  next  day  they  camped  in  the 
brush,  divided  the  spoils  of  the  robber>^,  and  at  sun- 
down resumed  their  journey.    After  another  hard 


6o  RUBE  BURROW. 

night's  ride  they  reached  the  vicinity  of  the  Pearl 
River,  near  Philadelphia,  Miss.  Here,  fearing  the 
news  of  the  deed  at  Duck  Hill  had  preceded  them, 
and  that  the  detectives  might  be  in  waiting  at  the 
bridge,  they  turned  their  horses  into  the  swamps 
and  two  miles  north  of  the  bridge  swam  the  swol- 
len current  of  Pearl  River.  Reaching  the  opposite 
bank,  they  continued  their  journey  through  the 
wilds  of  the  forest  for  a  few  miles,  and  turning  from 
the  southwesterly  course  on  which  they  had  ridden 
for  two  days,  they  rode  in  a  northeasterly  direction, 
traveling  most  of  the  distance  at  night,  until  they 
reached  Lamar  County.  Here  they  remained  in 
quiet  seclusion  until  the  tragic  event  recorded  in 
the  next  chapter  occurred. 


RUBE   BURROW.  6 1 


CHAPTER  XL 

TH«     COLD-BLOODED     MURDER     OF     MOSES     GRAVES,  THE 
POSTMASTER    OF   JEWELL,   ALABAMA. 

^  I  ^HE  reader  may  well  ask  what  the  detectives 
-*-  of  the  Southern  Express  Company  were  do- 
ing while  these  men  remained  in  Lamar  County 
and  the  adjacent  country,  from  the  time  of  the 
Duck  Hill  robbery  until  the  summer  of  1889. 

In  the  contiguous  counties  of  Lamar,  Fayette 
and  Marion  the  kindred  of  the  Burrow  family 
abounded  on  every  hand.  The  homes  of  his  kins- 
men, notably  Cash,  Terry,  Barker,  Smith  and  Han- 
kins,  not  only  furnished  a  safe  refuge  for  the  rob- 
bers, but  they  were  worshiped  as  heroes,  and  each 
household  vied  with  the  other  in  its  fealty  and  loy- 
alty to  the  robber  chief.  "Rube  never  robs  a  poor 
man,"  they  were  often  wont  to  say,  forgetting  that 
one  never  gets  blood  out  of  a  turnip.  These  peo- 
ple were  of  a  thriftless,  restive  spirit,  and  among 
them  were  many  shrewd  and  cunning  natures,  who 
became  the  paid  scouts  of  the  outlaws.  A  code  of 
signals  was  established,  and  the  appearance  of  a 
detective  or  a  stranger  of  any  kind  in  that  section 
was  at  once  ascertained,  and  the  information  con- 
veyed to  the  outlaws.     The  firing  of  a  gun  in  a 


62  RUBE  BURROW. 

certain  locality,  the  cracking  of  a  whip,  the  blow- 
ing of  a  horn,  and  the  deep-toned  "ah-hoo,"  as  well 
as  scores  of  other  signals,  all  had  their  meaning. 
They  gave  the  fugitives  warning  of  the  approach 
of  danger;  and  so,  when  occasional  raids  were 
made,  a  house  was  surrounded,  a  trail  was  cov- 
ered, or  some  solitary  scout  from  among  Rube's 
clansmen  was  encountered,  the  stillness  of  the  air 
would  be  broken  by  a  signal  which  plainly  told  the 
detectives  that  their  presence  was  known  and  the 
robbers  were  on  the  alert.  It  was  even  impossible 
to  trail  the  messengers  who  carried  rations  to  the 
robbers  while  in  camp,  for  these  were  stored  in  the 
crevices  of  rocks  and  in  the  trunks  of  trees,  from 
which  coverts,  at  propitious  times,  the  food  would 
be  taken. 

Detective  Jackson  once  followed  Jim  Cash, 
with  a  supply  of  provisions,  to  a  ravine  some  dis- 
tance from  Cash's  house,  and  saw  them  hidden 
away  in  the  cavernous  depths  of  a  hollow  log.  He 
concealed  himself  within  one  hundred  yards  of  the 
spot,  and,  knowing  Rube  was  in  that  locality,  fdt 
sure  he  would  be  able  to  pick  him  off  with  hia 
trusty  Winchester  when  he  came  for  his  rations. 
Jackson  crouched  behind  the  huge  trunk  of  a  tree, 
in  breathless  expectation  of  Rube's  appearance, 
Avhen  a  shot  fired  from  the  vicinity  of  Cash's  house 
dashed  his  hopes.  Half  an  hour  later  Cash  walked 
cautiously  down  the  hill,  took  the  food  away,  and 
tied  a  flaming  red  cloth  to  the  top  of  an  adjacent 


RUBS   BURROW.  63, 

bush,  thus  exhibiting  for  Rube  the  red  signal  of 
danger.  Cash  had,  on  his  return,  with  the  cunning 
of  his  class,  discovered  strange  footsteps  on  his 
trail,  and  rightly  divined  that  his  movements  had 
been  watched.  Although  the  detective  took  down 
the  signal.  Rube  had  doubtless  seen  it.  If  not, 
acting  on  the  signal  previously  given.  Rube  missed 
his  dinner  that  day. 

Thus  fed  and  harbored,  the  outlaws  remained 
in  Lamar  County  and  the  adjacent  country  all  the 
spring  and  summer  of  1889,  without  any  event  of 
note  occurring  until  on  the  7th  of  July,  when  Rube 
Burrow  murdered,  in  cold  blood,  the  postmaster  of 
Jewell,  Ala. 

Rube  had  concluded  that  a  wig  and  false  whis- 
kers were  necessary  in  his  line  of  business.  His 
robberies  were  now  of  such  frequent  occurrence 
that  he  sought  to  disguise  himself  more  closely, 
and  after  writing  for  a  catalogue  and  selecting 
what  he  desired  in  that  line,  he  wrote  the  follow- 
ing letter  to  a  Chicago  house  : 

June  I,  1889. 
Mr.  Sthrel: 

I  just  Received  your  catalogue  of  wigs  and  will  order 
Wig  and  Bird.  Pleas  ship  one  set  of  Bird,  4  or  5  inches 
and  one  Wig,  Cullor  of  goods  light  Red,  slieghtley  Grey, 
and  croped  hair.  Ship  goods  to  Sulligent  (express  office, 
ship  at  once)  Lamar  county  Ala,  too  W.  W.  Cain. 

P.  S. — Please  find  Five  Dollars  inclosed,  eye  Hav  no 
sample  of  Hair. 


64  RUBE   BURROW. 

Rube  had  written  for  the  catalogue  and  for  the 
wig  in  the  name  of  W.  W.  Cain.  The  former  letter 
was  written  from  Jewell  post-office,  and  as  the 
name  "  Sulligent "  was  not  plainly  written,  the 
shipper  sent  the  parcel  containing  the  wig  and 
beard  by  mail  to  Jewell,  Ala. 

Meantime  Jim  Cash  had  made  several  inquir- 
ies for  the  catalogue  to  Cain's  address  before  it  ar- 
rived. On  the  arrival  of  the  parcel  containing  the 
wig  and  whiskers,  the  wrapper  being  torn  the  con- 
tents were  exposed.  Naturally  great  curiosity  was 
excited  as  to  the  ownership  of  these  queer  looking 
articles.  The  rumor  soon  gained  currency  that 
Jim  Cash  had  been  inquiring  for  mail  for  W.  W. 
Cain.  The  postmaster  recalled  having  delivered 
him  the  catalogue,  and  this  parcel  was  supposed 
to  be  his  property.  Cash  was  told  that  the  con- 
tents had  been  examined,  and  that  the  postmaster 
declared  he  intended  to  arrest  the  party  who  called 
for  the  parcel. 

When  this  information  was  imparted  to  him  by 
Cash,  Rube  became  greatly  enraged.  He  swore  he 
would  go  to  the  post-office  in  person,  get  the  mail, 
and  kill  Graves.  Accordingly  he  left  the  home  of 
his  brother-in-law,  Cash,  about  daylight  on  the  7th 
of  July  for  Jewell,  Ala.,  distant  about  six  miles. 
Rube  was  known  to  Moses  Graves,  who  kept  the 
post-office  in  connection  with  a  country  store,  and 
who  was  a  quiet  and  inoffensive  citizen. 

Rube  arrived  at  Jewell  early,  but  the  ftill-orbed 


RUBE   BURROW.  6$ 

day  was  not  a  fit  time  for  the  execution  of  the 
dark  deed  upon  which  he  was  bent.  He  hirked 
about  the  outskirts  of  the  quiet  little  village  until 
the  shades  of  night  had  begun  to  fall,  and  creeping, 
with  the  stealthy  step  of  the  assassin,  towards  the 
post-office,  he  entered.  Moses  Graves,  the  post- 
master, and  Rube,  companions  and  playmates  in 
their  boyhood,  stood  face  to  face,  and  exchanging  a 
silent  recognition,  Rube  said:  "Have  you  any  mail 
for  W.W.Cain?" 

"Yes,"  answered  Graves,  "but  I  can  not  deliver 
it  to  you." 

Instantly  Rube  drew  his  heavy  revolver  and 
fired,  the  ball  entering  the  stomach  and  piercing 
him  through  and  through. 

"I'll  teach  you  how  to  open  my  mail,"  said 
Rube. 

Graves  staggered  towards  a  chair,  and  falling 
into  it,  said:  "  Rube  Burrow,  you  have  killed  me." 

The  murderer  then  turned,  and  leveling  his 
pistol  at  the  head  of  a  young  girl  who  was  an 
assistant  in  the  post-office,  said :  "  Get  my  mail 
or  I  will  blow  your  head  off." 

The  frightened  creature,  in  her  terror,  could' not 
find  the  parcel  until  Graves,  pointing  to  it  with 
uplifted  hand,  bade  her  get  it,  and  sinking  to  the 
floor  soon  expired. 

Graves's  wife,  at  the  firing  of  the  shot  which 
killed  her  husband,  rushed  in  from  an  adjoining 
room.     Despite  Rube's  threat  to  kill   her  if  she 


66  RtJBE    BURROW. 

entered  she  flew  to  the  assistance  of  her  dying  hus- 
band. He  was  conscious,  however,  long  enough  for 
his  ante-mortem  statement  to  be  carefully  taken,  in 
the  presence  of  witnesses,  certifying  to  the  fact 
that  Rube  Burrow  was  his  murderer.  Rube  walked 
out  of  the  town  unmolested,  and  at  ten  o'clock  that 
night  reached  the  house  of  Jim  Cash,  his  hands 
stained  with  the  blood  of  one  of  Lamar  County's 
most  respected  citizens — the  perpetrator  of  a  deed 
as  wanton  and  as  cold-blooded  as  ever  blackened 
the  annals  of  crime. 

Rube  and  Joe  were  not  amiss  in  surmising  that 
the  ofhcers  of  the  law  would  swoop  down  upon 
them.  As  soon  as  Rube  returned  to  Jim  Cash's, 
about  ten  o'clock  that  night,  he  informed  Joe  Jack- 
son, his  partner,  of  the  events  of  the  evening.  The 
latter  had  advised  strongly  against  the  policy  of 
taking  Graves's  life,  and  warned  Rube  of  the  con- 
sequences; but  Rube's  spirit  was  full  '.^f  revenge, 
and  he  determined  upon  the  murder. 

All  of  northern  Alabama  was  aroused  with  in- 
dignation at  the  cruel  and  wanton  murdei^  and  ex- 
Sheriff  Pennington,  heading  a  posse  of  determined 
citizens,  went  into  the  Burrow  neighborhood  a  few 
days  afterward  and  made  an  earnest  endeavor  to 
capture  the  outlaws.  Too  much  praise  can  not  be 
accorded  this  brave  and  gallant  man,  and  had  the 
laws  of  Alabama  admitted  his  re-election  to  a  s*»c- 
ond  term  it  is  more  than  probable  that  the  career 
of  these  train  robbers  in  Lamar  County  would  hav» 
been  less  bold  and  protracted^ 


RUBE   BURROW.  67 

The  homes  of  Allen  Burrow,  John  T.  Burrow 
and  Jim  Cash  were  all  raided,  and  these  men,  who 
were  openly  aiding  and  abetting  the  outlaws,  were 
arrested  and  taken  to  the  Vernon  jail.  Threats  of 
releasing  the  prisoners  reached  the  officers,  and  the 
excitement  grew  with  each  passing  hour.  A  strong 
guard  was  put  around  the  Vernon  jail  to  prevent 
this,  and  at  the  same  time  it  was  whispered  that 
the  prisoners  were  in  imminent  danger  of  being 
lynched. 

At  this  juncture  the  Governor  of  Alabama,  in 
answer  to  a  call  made  upon  him  by  the  sheriff  of 
Lamar  County,  sent  a  military  company  from  Bir- 
mingham to  keep  the  peace.  The  troops  remained 
at  Vernon  pending  the  arraignment  and  trial  of 
these  men,  who  were  released,  however,  under 
bond,  and  being  subsequently  tried,  were  acquitted 
of  the  charge  of  being  accessory  to  the  murder  of 
the  postmaster. 


68  RUBE   BURROW. 


CPIAPTER  XII. 

RUBE    SMITH    JOINS    RUBE    BURROW    AND    JOE    JACKSON — 
THE    BUCKATUNNA  ROBBERY. 

^npHE  murder  of  the  postmaster  at  Jewell,  Ala., 
-*-  was  done  by  Rube  Burrow  in  a  spirit  of  bra- 
vado, and,  doubtless,  with  the  design  of  terrorizing 
the  law-abiding  people  of  that  section  into  such  a 
state  of  timidity  as  would  give  additional  safety  to 
his  chosen  place  of  refuge,  and  at  the  same  time 
knit  him  all  the  more  closely  to  the  lawless  band 
of  his  followers,  who  not  only  connived  at  his 
crimes  but  profited  from  the  spoils  of  his  misdeeds. 
Despite  the  vigilant  and  unremitting  search  of 
the  detectives  the  presence  of  the  bandit  in  Lamar 
County  had  not  been  definitely  known  until  the 
murder  of  Graves  occurred.  The  officials  of  the 
Southern  Express  Company  determined,  there- 
fore, to  either  capture  Rube  or  drive  him  from 
Lamar  County.  The  task  was  a  difficult  one,  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  Rube  never  slept  under  a 
roof  nor  broke  bread  at  any  man's  table  in  Lamar 
County  after  the  murder  at  Jewell.  Soon  there- 
after, when  invited  by  his  father  to  come  into  his 
house,  on  one  occasion,  he  refused,  saying,  "I  might 
as  well  give  myself  up." 


RUBS   BURROW.  69 

Detectives  Jackson  and  Bums,  of  the  Southern 
Express  Company,  about  this  time  went  into  Lamar 
County  and  literally  camped  there.  They  endeav- 
ored by  every  possible  means  to  discover  the  where- 
abouts of  the  outlaws  by  shadowing  the  persons 
who  communicated  with  them  from  time  to  time, 
but  the  army  of  scouts  in  the  secret  service  of  the 
cunning  desperado  was  so  well  trained,  the  field  in 
which  they  operated  so  extensive,  that  the  only 
result  obtained  was  to  force  them  to  leave. 

About  September  ist  Rube  and  Joe  concluded 
to  depart.  A  few  days  before  their  departure,  how- 
ever, Mrs.  Allen  Burrow  brought  Rube  a  message 
from  Rube  Smith,  to  the  effect  that  the  latter 
wanted  to  see  him. 

Rube  Smith  is  a  son  of  James  Smith,  who  lives 
in  Lamar  County,  near  Crews  Station,  and  about 
eight  miles  from  the  home  of  Allen  Burrow.  He 
is  a  first  cousin  of  the  Burrow  brothers.  Smith 
was  about  twenty-eight  years  old,  five  feet  eight 
inches  high,  weighed  one  hundred  and  sixty 
pounds,  and  bore  a  very  bad  reputation  in  all 
that  section.  He  had  never  followed  any  legiti- 
mate occupation,  except  that,  for  a  short  period 
in  1883,  he  had  been  an  itinerant  photographer, 
moving  about  from  place  to  place,  and  making 
cheap  photographs  in  country  towns  of  northern 
Alabama.  In  the  fall  of  1888,  however,  he  was 
indicted,  with  James  McClung  and  James  Barker, 
an   uncle,  for   robbery  from   the  person  of  a  Mr. 


JO  RUBE   BURROW. 

Johnson,  a  respectable  old  farmer  of  Lamar  Coun- 
ty. Smith  and  party  went  to  farmer  Johnson's 
home  about  nightfall,  with  their  faces  masked, 
and  at  the  point  of  their  revolvers  demanded  his 
money.  The  old  man  hestitating,  was  cruelly 
beaten,  and  at  last  divulged  the  hiding-place  of 
his  money,  some  three  hundred  dollars,  which  the 
robbers  secured.  They  left  their  victim  bleeding 
and  maimed,  lying  upon  the  floor,  where  he  re- 
mained until  the  next  morning,  when  kindly 
neighbors  came  to  his  assistance.  Rube  Smith 
then  became  a  fugitive  from  justice. 

Burrow,  knowing  of  the  presence  of  the  detect- 
ives in  the  vicinity,  suspected  that  Smith  was  be- 
ing used  by  the  officers  to  entrap  him.  After  con- 
sidering the  matter  several  days  he  sent,  through 
his  sister,  a  message  to  Rube  Smith  that  he  would 
meet  him  at  the  hour  of  midnight,  September  4th, 
in  Fellowship  church-yard,  a  point  about  four  miles 
from  Vernon.  Thither  Burrow  and  Joe  Jackson 
repaired  early  after  dark,  on  that  night,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  forestalling  any  plan  which  the  detectives 
might  have  to  capture  them  through  Smith.  The 
watch  was  set,  and  each,  by  turn,  stocd  sentinel  in 
this  quiet  and  lonely  spot,  awaiting  the  appointed 
hour.  Smith,  in  due  course,  appeared  as  agreed. 
He  v/as  alone,  and  Burrow  was  soon  assured  that 
his  proposal  to  join  him  was  genuine. 

There,  in  the  graveyard  of  Fellowship  church, 
where  the  body  of  the  famous    outlaw  now   lies 


buried,  at  the  solemn  hour  of  midnight,  the  c®m- 
pact  which  linked  Rube  Smith's  fortunes  with  his 
own  was  made.  There  was  no  subscribing  to  the 
black  oath,  no  signing  in  letters  of  blood,  but  with 
the  skillfulness  of  a  master  Rube  Burrow  inducted 
his  young  kinsman  into  the  office  of  train  robbing 
to  which  he  had  elected  him.  He  described  the 
preliminary  step  of  boarding  the  engine  and  get- 
ting the  "drop  ;  "  the  method  of  "holding  up,"  and 
all  the  subtle  artifices  of  the  craft,  in  such  a  mas- 
terly style  that  the  new  recruit  smacked  his  lips  in 
anticipation  of  the  rich  dish  spread  before  his  men- 
tal vision,  and,  after  the  manner  of  little  Jack  Hor- 
ner, he  mentally  "put  in  his  thumb,  and  pulled  out 
a  plum,  and  said,  what  a  good  boy  am  I," 

Setting  out,  therefore,  with  the  two-fold  object 
of  avoiding  the  detectives  in  Lamar  County,  and 
of  robbing  a  train,  the  three  men  journeyed  south- 
ward, but  without  any  particular  destination  in 
view.  Going  down  the  west  bank  of  the  Tombig- 
bee  River,  they  traveled  a  distance  of  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles,  to  Buckatunna,  Miss.,  on 
the  Mobile  and  Ohio  Railroad,  seventy-three  miles 
north  of  Mobile. 

After  a  careful  deliberation  of  the  matter.  Rube 
Burrow  selected  Ellisville,  Miss.,  a  point  on  the 
Queen  and  Crescent  Railway,  sixty-five  miles  south 
of  Meridian,  and  distant  fifty-five  miles  east  across 
the  country,  as  the  point  for  making  his  seventh 
train  robbery. 


72  RUBE   BURROW. 

Leaving  the  Mobile  and  Ohio  Railway  at  Buck- 
atunna  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  September,  the 
men  walked  towards  Ellisville,  arriving  there  on 
the  night  of  the  17th  of  September.  Here  Rube 
Burrow  concluded,  after  finding  there  were  three 
trains  daily  each  way  on  that  road,  that  there  was 
no  money  in  robbing  a  train  on  the  Queen  and 
Crescent  Railway.  He  argued  that  the  shipments 
would  be  divided  up  between  the  several  trains, 
and  no  one  train  would  carry  much  money.  He 
had  been  so  often  disappointed  in  the  amounts  ob- 
tained that  he  was  now  planning,  with  great  care, 
to  make  a  big  haul.  He  concluded,  therefore,  to 
reverse  his  course,  return  to  Buckatunna,  and  rob 
the  Mobile  and  Ohio,  as  the  schedule  on  that  line 
indicated  only  a  single  daily  express  train  each 
way.  Accordingly  the  robbers  resumed  their  jour- 
ney towards  Buckatunna,  through  the  "Free  State 
of  Jones." 

The  county  of  Jones,  Miss.,  bears  to  this  day 
the  appellation  of  the  "  Free  State  of  Jones." 
During  the  late  civil  war  the  county  seceded  from 
the  Confederacy  and  set  up  an  independent  gov- 
ernment of  its  own.  Here,  in  the  famous  Bogue 
Homer  swamp,  which  covers  one-third  of  the  area 
of  the  county,  hundreds  of  Mississippians,  and  Ala- 
bamians  from  across  the  border,  declared  them- 
selves non-combatants,  and  gathering  their  families 
about  them,  set  up  a  military  government  of  their 
own.     Fortified  within  this  inaccessible  wild  land, 


RUBE   BURROW.  73 

by  the  aid  of  their  flint  locks,  they  defied  Confed- 
erate and  Federal  alike,  and  in  the  solitude  of  a 
peacefulness  disturbed  only  by  an  occasional  un- 
successful raid  upon  them,  lived  on,  unmindful  of 
the  fate  of  the  Republic,  One  may  ride,  at  this 
day,  over  the  public  road,  so-called,  from  Ellisville 
to  Buckatunna,  sixty  miles,  and  in  all  that  distance 
he  will  find  no  sign  of  human  habitation  save  at 
intervals  of  ten  miles  or  so  a  rude  log  hut,  and 
here  and  there  a  rosin  orchard. 

Through  this  lonely  woodland,  to  the  music  of 
the  soughing  pines.  Rube  Burrow,  Joe  Jackson  and 
Rube  Smith  wended  their  way  from  Ellisville  to 
Buckatunna.  On  Sunday  night  about  dark  they 
reached  an  abandoned  log  cabin  on  the  farm  of  one 
Neil  McAllister,  a  very  intelligent  colored  man, 
who  lives  three  miles  from  Buckatunna  station. 
Neil  found  the  men  snugly  quartered  in  this  out- 
house early  Monday  morning,  and  had  frequent  in- 
terviews with  them  during  their  stay  of  forty-eight 
hours  on  his  premises. 

The  robbers  visited  a  trestle  at  Buckatunna 
Creek,  two  miles  south  of  the  station  of  that  name, 
during  Monday,  and,  after  carefully  maturing  their 
plans,  agreed  to  rob  the  south-bound  express  train, 
due  on  Wednesday,  September  25th,  about  2:30  A. 
M.,  at  the  trestle,  one  and  a  half  miles  south  of  the 
station. 

Leaving  Neil  McAllister's  cabin  soon  after  dark 
the   trio   passed   through    Buckatunna   and   wen^ 


74  RUBlt  BURROW. 

to  the  trestle,  where  they  remained  untii  thfc 
north-bound  train  passed  at  midnight.  Rube  Bur- 
row and  Rube  Smith  then  walked  to  the  station, 
where,  on  the  arrival  of  the  south-bound  train,  in 
charge  of  Conductor  Scholes  and  Engineer  Ther- 
rill,  the  two  men  quietly  boarded  the  engine  as  it 
pulled  out  from  the  station. 

The  cool  and  determined  manner  in  which  the 
work  was  done  is  well  described  by  Zack  Therrill, 
the  engineer,  in  his  statement  taken  by  the  ex- 
press officials  next  day. 

STATEMENT   OF   ENGINEER  THERRItL. 

Just  as  I  was  pulling  out  of  Buckattinna  I 
heard  a  voice  on  my  engine,  and  I  thought  the 
fireman  was  speaking  to  me.  I  turned  to  find  the 
fireman  and  myself  covered  with  pistols  by  two 
men.  The  larger  of  the  two  men,  who  had  his 
pistol  presented  at  me,  said,  "  Pull  on  out! "  After 
I  had  run  several  hundred  yards  he  said,  "  Don't 
be  uneasy."  I  told  him  I  was  not  uneasy.  He 
said:  "I  am  going  to  rob  this  train  or  kill  every 
man  on  it.  Stop  the  train  on  the  trestle  beyond 
the  bridge,  so  the  passengers  can't  get  off.  I  will 
kill  every  one  that  hits  the  ground."  I  stopped  as 
directed,  and  was  ordered  to  get  down  from  the 
engine.  When  I  got  down,  there  was  a  man  stand- 
ing opposite  the  gangway  on  the  ground,  whom 
I  will  designate  as  number  three.  He  backed 
towards  the  express  car  door.     The  man  number 


RUBE   BURROW.  75 

one,  wlio  had  been  on  the  engine,  said,  "  Call  the 
express  messenger."  Just  then  robber  number 
three,  who  was  in  front,  covered  the  messenger, 
who  was  sitting  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  car, 
with  his  back  toward  us. 

The  conductor  came  out  at  this,  moment  and 
asked  what  v/as  the  matter.  The  big  man,  num- 
ber one,  then  fired  a  shot  over  my  head  towards 
tlie  conductor  and  said,  "  Get  back  or  I  will  kill 
you!"  The  messenger  had  not  yet  opened  the 
door,  but  was  covered  by  the  pistol  of  number 
three.  The  big  man,  number  one,  then  covered 
the  messenger  as  soon  as  he  had  shot.  The  fire- 
man was  standing  behind  me,  with  a  coal  pick, 
covered  by  number  two,  who  had  been  on  the  en- 
gine. The  messenger  shoved  the  grated  door 
back,  the  wooden  or  outside  door  being  already 
open.  The  messenger  could  not  have  stepped 
aside,  as  he  was  covered  by  two  pistols.  Number 
one  then  said,  "Give  me  your  hand  and  pull  me  in 
the  car.  Handle  my  hand  carefully,  as  there  are 
corns  on  it."  He  was  in  the  car  five  or  six  min- 
utes. Just  after  he  got  in  the  car  the  conductor 
again  called  to  know  what  was  the  matter.  Num- 
ber three  said,  in  a  low  tone  of  voice,  "  Look  out,  I 
will  settle  him."  He  went  forward  a  few  paces, 
called  out "  Come  and  see,"  squatted  and  fired  one 
shot.  He  then  got  up,  ran  forward  about  ten  feet, 
and  laid  down  flat  on  his  stomach.  He  laid 
there  until  number  one,  in  the  car.  told  the  mes- 


76  RUBE    BURROW. 

senger  to  get  out  of  the  car,  which  he  did,  in  front 
of  the  robber,  who  gave  him  the  bag  with  its  con- 
tents to  hold,  while  he  himself  got  out. 

Number  one  then  said  to  me,  "Go  to  the  engine 
with  me  and  pull  the  mail  car  off  the  trestle."  I 
told  him  it  was  off,  and  told  him  if  it  was  not  off 
I  did  not  have  steam  enough  to  move  the  train. 
He  then  said  to  number  two,  "Take  the  fireman  to 
the  engine,"  and  added,  "Wait,  I  will  go  with  you." 
He  told  the  fireman  to  get  on  the  engine,  and  told 
me  to  stay  on  the  ground.  He  told  the  fireman  to 
get  his  fire  started,  ordered  number  two  to  stay 
with  the  fireman,  and  instructed  me  to  go  with 
him  to  the  mail  car.  He  told  the  fireman,  before 
he  started  off,  not  to  move  the  engine  until  he  came 
back,  and  said  he  would  kill  me  if  it  started.  I 
went  back  to  the  mail  car  as  instructed,  and  when 
we  got  to  the  express  car  he  instructed  number 
three  to  bring  the  messenger  up  to  the  mail  car. 
Number  three  took  the  bag  from  the  messenger  as 
soon  as  he  struck  the  ground.  I  called  the  mail 
agent,  as  instructed,  who  was  inside  of  the  car.  As 
soon  as  he  appeared  he  was  covered  by  number 
one,  who  ordered  me  to  go  into  the  mail  car  ahead 
of  him,  which  I  did.  He  ordered  the  mail  agent 
to  get  up  his  registered  letters,  and  said  to  him, 
"You  have  been  hiding  them." 

The  mail  agent  replied,  "Xo,  I  have  only  turned 
the  light  down."  The  mail  agent  showed  him  the 
registered  mail,  saying,  "There  it  is,"  and  added, 


RUBE  BURROW.  '^J 

"You  are  doing  the  worst  thing  you  ever  did  in 
your  H£e.  You  will  get  the  U.  S.  Government 
after  you,  and  there  are  not  $20,000  in  the  pile." 
"That  don't  make  any  difference,"  said  the  robber; 
"I  will  take  them  anyhow."  He  left  the  car  and 
said  to  the  mail  agent,  "If  you  don't  want  to  get 
hurt,  shut  the  door  and  keep  it  shut  until  the  train 
leaves  here."  He  gave  the  packages  he  got  out  of 
the  mail  car  to  number  two,  who  was  guarding  the 
fireman,  and  told  me  to  get  up  on  my  engine  and 
pull  out.  I  had  started  up  on  the  engine  when  he 
told  me  to  sit  in  the  gangway  between  the  tender 
and  engine.  Number  one  then  said :  "Do  anything 
you  want  to  get  steam  up." 

We  were  there  ten  minutes  getting  up  steam. 
During  that  time  he  said  he  worked  on  a  section 
once — though  not  on  this  road — and  was  dis- 
charged and  a  negro  put  in  his  place.  He  then 
decided  not  to  work  any  more  for  a  living.  He  said 
he  had  been  around  towns  and  had  heard  people 
say  what  they  would  do  if  they  were  "held  up." 
"What  can  a  man  do,"  I  asked,  "in  the  fix  you  have 
me  in?"    "Do  as  I  tell  you."  he  replied. 

When  I  got  steam  up  he  said,  "Hurry  up  to 
State  Line,  and  send  a  message  up  and  down  the 
Toad,  so  they  can  get  after  us.  Tell  the  operator 
I  say  to  hurry  up  about  it.  Tell  the  boss  of  those 
cars  (meaning  the  express  cars)  to  put  steps  on 
them,  or  I  will  stop  robbing  them.  Don't  ring 
the  bell  or  blow  the  whistle,"  he  concluded,  "or  I 
will  shoot  into  the  engine." 


7S  RUBS  BURROW. 

He  told  me,  going  down  to  the  bridge,  that  In  ^ 
came  here  to  rob  this  train  because  there  was  s 
boast  in  the  papers  last  spring  that  he  could  nof 
rob  it,  and  he  just  wanted  to  show  them  what  he 
could  do. 

The  other  two  men,  while  we  were  talking  at 
the  engine,  had  gone  out  in  the  bushes.  While 
going  to  the  engine  with  me  he  told  number  three 
to  put  the  messenger  back  in  his  car.  When  I  got 
on  the  engine  to  start  he  said,  "Holler  to  those 
boys  on  the  other  side,  and  tell  them  to  get  back 
from  the  train."  I  thought  he  referred  to  his  men, 
but  saw  none.  In  coming  down  from  the  station 
he  said  he  had  men  and  tools  to  do  the  job  with. 

The  man  described  by  Engineer  Therrill  as 
number  one  is  easily  recognized  as  Rube  Burrow, 
number  two  as  Joe  Jackson,  and  number  three  as 
Rube  Smith.  The  trestle  at  which  the  robbery 
was  committed  was  undergoing  repair  by  a  force 
of  bridge  men,  and  the  train  was  in  the  habit  of 
stopping  and  then  proceeding  slowly  across  it. 
When  the  train  stopped,  therefore.  Messenger  Dun- 
ning supposed  it  was  on  account  of  the  bad  condi- 
tion of  the  trestle,  and  gave  little  thought  to  the 
matter.  When  hailed  by  the  engineer,  who  had 
been  instructed  by  the  robbers  to  call  him  to  the 
door,  the  messsenger  found  himself,  on  facing 
about,  covered  by  revolvers  through  the  grated  ot 


RUBE   BURROW.  79 

x^n  barred  door  of  the  car,  the  outer  wooden  door 
being  open. 

"  Hold  your  hands  down,  and  come  to  the  door, 
or  I  will  kill  you,"  said  Burrow. 

A  shot  from  the  pistol  of  one  of  the  robbers  on 
the  outside  of  the  car  gave  emphasis  to  the  high- 
wayman's request,  and  when  the  grated  door  was 
pushed  back,  as  ordered  by  Rube  Burrow,  he  got 
in  the  car  and,  handing  a  sack  to  the  messenger, 
said  :  "  Put  your  money  in  there.  Hurry  up  !  I 
have  no  time  to  lose." 

Securing  $2,685  from  the  express  car,  Burrow 
then  went  to  the  mail  car  and  called  for  the  regis- 
tered mail.  Mail  Agent  Bell  had  been  collecting 
the  registered  matter,  preparatory  to  leaving  the 
car  with  it,  when  Rube  entered  and  demanded  it. 

The  registered  mail,  which  contained  $795,  was 
taken,  making  the  total  amount  secured  $3,480,  or 
$1,160  each. 

In  stopping  the  train  the  passenger  coaches  had 
been  left  on  the  trestle  so  as  to  prevent  any  one 
reaching  the  ground,  twenty  feet  below,  and  mak- 
ing an  attack  from  that  quarter.  The  shots  fired 
soon  after  the  train  was  halted,  two  of  which  took 
effect  in  the  steps  of  the  coach  on  \vhich  Conduct- 
or Scholes  stood,  silenced  further  inquiry,  and  the 
work  was  completed  without  molestation. 

When  Burrow  joined  his  comrades,  after  leav- 
ing the  mail  car,  he  seemed  anxious  to  have  the 


8o  RUBE   BURROW. 

train  start.  During  the  run  from  the  station  down 
to  the  trestle  he  had  forbidden  the  fireman  to  put 
any  coal  in  the  fire-box,  and,  hence  while  the  train 
was  being  robbed  so  much  steam  was  lost  that  it 
was  ten  minutes  after  the  robbery  was  over  before 
sufficient  steam  was  obtained  to  get  under  head- 
way. Finally  the  train  resumed  its  onward  course, 
and  Burrow,  sending  a  few  parting  shots  of  humor 
after  Engineer  Therrill,  joined  his  comrades  who 
were  anxiously  awaiting  his  coming  in  the  brush  a 
few  yards  distant. 

The  train  dispatcher's  record  of  that  day  bore 
the  simple  explanation :  "  Number  five  delayed 
thirty  minutes  at  Buckatunna  trestle,  getting 
robbed." 

The  news  of  the  robbery  brought  the  officials 
of  the  Express  and  Railroad  Companies  by  special 
train  to  the  scene.  Possees  were  at  once  organized 
and  sent  in  pursuit.  It  was  evident  that  the  work 
was  that  of  Rube  Burrow.  "  I  will  rob  this  train  or 
kill  every  man  on  it "  was  the  identical  expression 
used  at  Genoa  and  at  Duck  Hill.  His  disposition 
to  be  humorous — in  fact,  every  detail  of  the  rob- 
bery gave  evidence  of  his  identity  as  the  leader. 

The  robbers  were  traced  from  the  scene  of 
their  crime  in  an  easterly  course.  Blood-hounds 
were  used  in  the  pursuit,  but  the  trail  being  cold 
they  were  abandoned.  The  detectives,  however, 
quietly  took  up  the  trail  and  followed  it  towards 
Demopolis,  Ala.    At  this  point  it  was  found  that 


RUBE  BURROW. 


6l 


Rube  Smith  separated  from  the  other  men  about 
October  5th,  and  went  by  rail  into  Lamar  County. 
Rube  Burrow  and  Joe  Jackson  continued  their 
journey  afoot,  and  traveling  by  easy  stages  reached 
Lamar  County  on  the  night  of  October  23d,  im- 
pelled by  some  strange  fancy  to  return  to  the  spot 
from  which  they  had  been  so  recently  routed,  anfl 
from  which  they  were  soon  to  depart  again. 


DETECTIVE    T.    V.    JACKSON. 


i2  KUBS   BU&KOW. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  CAPTURE  OF  RUBB  SMITH  AND  JAMES  m'CI,UNG  AT 
AMORY,  MISS. — M'CI.UNG'S  CONFESSION  —  A  PI<AN  TO 
ROB  THE  TRAIN  FALLS  THROUGH — A  SAFE  ROBBERV 
NIPPED  IN  THE  BUD. 

"\  T  THEN  the  Buckatunna  robbery  of  September 
^  ^  25,  1889,  occurred,  the  fact  that  three  men 
participated  in  that  deed  proved  that  a  third 
man  had  joined  Rube  Burrow  since  his  last  rob- 
bery at  Duck  Hill,  on  December  15, 1888,  and  the 
identity  of  the  third  man  puzzled  the  detectives  of 
the  Express  Company  for  some  weeks.  An  accu- 
rate description,  however,  of  all  three  of  the  men 
had  been  obtained,  and  Detective  Thomas  Jackson, 
after  a  visit  into  Lamar  County  a  few  weeks  after 
the  robbery,  became  convinced  that  it  was  Rube 
Smith.  On  the  eighth  day  of  October,  succeeding 
the  Buckatunna  robbery,  Rube  Smith  appeared  in 
Lamar  County,  exhibited  a  good  deal  of  mone}-, 
and  was  known  to  be  in  hiding  in  the  vicinity  of 
his  father's  home.  Here  he  remained  for  some 
weeks,  narrowly  escaping  capture  at  the  hands  of 
Detective  Thomas  Jackson  several  times,  while 
the  latter  was  daily  securing  additional  evidence 
of  his  complicity  in  the  Buckatunna  affair.      Fi- 


RUBS   BURROW.  S3 

nally,  in  the  latter  part  of  November,  1889,  Jim 
McClung,  an  old  acquaintance  of  Rube  Smith's, 
left  Itawamba  County,  Miss.,  to  visit  his  relatives 
in  Lamar  County,  and  while  en  route  thither  fell  in 
with  Rube  Smith  near  the  house  of  that  worthy's 
father.  Rube  exhibited  quite  a  sum  of  money  to 
McClung,  and  invited  him  to  accompany  him  to 
the  Indian  Territory,  which  McClung  agreed  to 
do.  This  was  the  hiding  place  to  which  Smith 
had  gone  soon  after  the  Johnson  robbery. 

The  two  men  left  for  the  Indian  Territory. 
Their  destination  was  Kavanaugh,  and  Smith  un- 
folded to  McClung,  while  en  route ^  the  whole  story 
of  the  Buckatunna  train  robbery  and  the  part  he 
played  in  it.  He  described  every  detail  and  cir- 
cumstance of  the  robbery,  and  McClung,  having  a 
very  retentive  memory,  was  afterwards  enabled  to 
testify  about  it  so  minutely  that  the  jury  in  the 
Federal  Court,  before  which  Smith  had  a  mistrial 
in  May,  1890,  concluded  that  Jim  McClung  ha 
participated  in  that  robbery.  Such,  however,  wa ' 
not  the  fact. 

The  section  of  the  Indian  Territory  to  which 
Smith  and  McClung  went  was  wild  and  sparsely 
settled,  but  no  sooner  had  Smith  appeared  there 
than  he  learned  that  the  officers  were  after  him  for 
a  violation  of  the  Federal  law  forbidding  the  im- 
portation and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  the 
Indian  Territory,  while  he  was  there  in  the  early 
spring.     Smith  therefore  left  within  twenty-four 


84  RUBE   BURROW. 

hours  after  his  arrival,  and  returned  to  Lamar 
County,  abandoning  a  project  of  robbing  the  dis- 
bursing officer  of  an  Indian  agency  near  Kava- 
naugh,  which  he  had  unfolded  to  McClung. 

McClung  soon  tired  of  life  in  the  Indian  Terri- 
tory, and,  returning  to  Alabama,  found  Smith  in 
Lamar  County.  Here,  on  the  13th  of  December, 
Rube  Smith  conceived  the  idea  of  robbing  the 
Southern  Express  car  at  Bigbee  trestle,  two  miles 
north  of  Amory,  Miss.  The  next  night,  soon  after 
dark,  he  set  out  with  McClung  from  the  home  of 
Rube  Smith's  father  for  that  purpose.  How  the 
plan  fell  through  is  best  told  by  the  confession  of 
Jim  McClung,  after  the  capture  of  Smith  and  him- 
self in  the  sitting-room  of  the  depot  at  Amory, 
Miss. 

At  one  o'clock  a.  m.  Detective  Thomas  Jackson, 
assisted  by  local  officers  Clay  and  Aikin,  of  Amory, 
made  the  capture.  McClung  made  but  slight  re- 
s'stance,  but  Smith  grappled  with  Jackson,  despite 
the  fact  that  he  was  covered  by  the  revolvers  of 
both  Clay  and  Jackson,  while  Officer  Aikin  had 
McClung  in  charge,  and  a  hand  to  hand  struggle 
ensued,  in  which  Smith  succeeded  in  dra^oring-  his 
captors  into  the  doorway  of  the  station  house, 
where  he  was  finally  overpowered  and  the  hand- 
cuffs placed  upon  him.  The  prisoners  were  taken 
to  the  Aberdeen,  Miss.,  jail,  and  on  the  i8th  of 
December  McClung  made  the  following  confession 
to  the  express  officials,  which  confirmed  the  infor- 


RUBE   BURROW.  85 

mation  already  in  tlieir  possession  as  to  Smith's 
complicity  in  the  Buckatunna  robbery, 

m'clung's   confession. 

My  name  is  James  McClung.  I  am  tAventy- 
two  years  of  age.  I  have  known  Rube  Smith  for 
five  or  six  years,  but  have  not  seen  much  of  him 
until  within  the  past  few  weeks.  I  returned  from 
the  Indian  Nation  three  weeks  ago  next  Tuesday. 
I  went  to  Henry  Smith's,  in  Itawamba  County, 
Miss.,  thirteen  miles  from  Tupelo,  and  there  found 
Rube  Smith  and  Rube  Burrow.  Rube  Smith  was 
sitting  on  his  horse  at  the  gate  when  I  arrived, 
about  two  hours  after  sun-up.  About  an  hour  after 
I  arrived  Rube  Smith  told  me  that  Rube  Burrow 
was  there.  Smith  invited  me  to  go  down  to  the 
woods  where  Rube  Burrow  was.  I  went  down  a 
hollow  on  the  west  side,  and  then  went  to  the 
south  side  of  the  house,  in  an  old  field,  where 
Rube  Burrow  was  lying  on  his  coat.  Burrow 
asked  Smith  vvhat  he  had  decided  upon,  now  that 
I  had  come.  Burrow  said  he  wanted  to  go  into 
Alabama,  and  to  this  we  all  agreed.  Rube  Smith 
and  I  went  to  Tupelo  that  night.  We  ate  two 
meals  in  Henry  Smith's  house.  Rube  Smith  car- 
ried Rube  Burrow  his  dinner  and  supper  in  the 
woods.  Burrow  promised  to  meet  us  at  old  man 
Jim  Smith's,  in  Alabama,  about  five  miles  from 
Crews  Station.  Rube  Smith  and  I  got  off  at 
Quincy,  Miss.,  and  walked    over   to  Jim  Smith's. 


86  RUBE   BURROW 

We  were  afraid  to  get  off  at  Crews.  Burrow  did 
not  join  us  until  last  Monday  morning.  Burrow 
made  his  appearance  at  the  spring  at  Jim  Smith's 
on  Monday  morning,  the  7th  of  December.  I  went 
down  to  the  spring.  They  were  talking  of  robbing 
a  train  at  Bigbee  trestle,  two  miles  north  of  Amory, 
Miss.  We  all  decided  on  robbing  the  train  on  the 
K.  C.  M.  &  B.  Railroad  on  Friday  night,  the  i6th 
of  December.  The  plan  was  that  Smith  and  I 
should  board  the  train  at  Sulligent  and  come  to 
Amory.  Burrow  was  to  walk  and  join  us  Thurs- 
day at  Bigbee  trestle.  Smith  and  I  got  off  at  Amory 
at  3  A.  M.  Thursday.  We  went  into  the  woods  and 
slept  about  one-fourth  of  a  mile  from  Amory.  We 
went  to  the  trestle  about  9  a.  m.  Thursday.  We 
found  Burrow  on  the  south  side  of  the  trestle  in 
the  hollow.  Smith  told  Burrow  he  had  taken  in 
the  situation,  and  did  not  think  it  would  do  to 
board  the  engine  at  Amory,  because  there  was  a 
night  watchman  there,  and  it  could  not  be  done. 
Burrow  said  all  right — he  did  not  care  for  a  night 
watchman,  but  was  willing  to  leave  it  to  Smith. 
It  was  then  agreed  to  abandon  the  robbery  of  the 
train. 

We  agreed  to  go  down  to  Winfield,  Ala.,  and 
rob  Jonathan  Jones,  a  merchant  there.  Smith 
proposed  that  he  and  I  would  go  over  to  Hester's 
grocery,  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from 
Amory,  and  get  some  beer.  Burrow  said  he  would 
remain  until  we  got  back.     We  were  absent  about 


RUBE   BURROW.  87 

one  hour,  and  when  we  came  back,  found  Burrow 
there  waiting  for  us.  All  three  of  us  then  went  to 
Amory.  We  stopped  at  Tubb's  spring,  one  quarter 
of  a  mile  out  of  Amory,  and  stayed  there  awhile. 
We  went  then  to  Mrs,  McDaniel's,  getting  there 
about  one  hour  before  sunset.  Rube  Burrow  did 
not  go  in.  We  found  no  one  in  the  house,  but 
got  some  bread  and  meat.  Smith  brought  some 
out  to  Burrow.  It  was  then  nearly  dark.  Rube 
Burrow  proposed  that  he  would  go  into  the  woods 
on  the  north  side  of  the  track  and  sleep.  Smith 
and  I  went  to  Mrs.  McDaniel's  and  stayed  all  night. 
Next  morning  (Friday,  the  13th)  we  met  Rube 
Burrow  in  the  woods.  We  waited  until  Mrs. 
McDaniel  went  into  the  field,  and  then  went  to 
the  house  and  cooked  some  breakfast  for  Burrow, 
because  he  would  not  go  into  the  house,  nor  would 
he  allow  us  to  bring  anything  out  while  Mrs. 
McDaniel  was  there.  We  remained  about  there 
until  ten  o'clock  a.  m.,  then  Smith  and  I  went  to 
John  Marsh's  and  got  dinner.  We  gave  Burrow 
enough  for  dinner  and  breakfast. 

We  all  got  together  at  Amory  Junction,  about 
one  mile  out  of  Amory,  late  in  the  evening.  Bur- 
row said  there  was  no  danger  of  any  one  knowing 
him,  and  he  was  not  afraid  to  come  into  Amory. 
So  we  all  started  in  about  one  hour  before  sunset. 
We  came  up  the  track  until  we  got  near  the  depot. 
Burrow  went  over  towards  the  round-house,  among 
the   side   tracks,  where   we   went   over   later  and 


88  RUBE  tCRROW. 

joined  him.  We  all  went  to  a  well  near  Arm- 
strong's saloon  and  got  some  water.  Rube  Smith 
said  he  wanted  to  buy  a  Winchester  rifle.  Bur- 
row said,  "Go  ahead  and  get  a  rifle ;  but  be  careful 
about  fooling  around,  inquiring  for  guns."  Bur- 
row said  to  Smith  that  he  wanted  half  a  pint  of 
whisky.  Smith  went  into  a  saloon  and  got  it. 
Burrow  said  to  Smith,  "I  will  meet  you  and 
McClung  at  the  round-house."  Burrow  had  hid- 
den the  rifle  between  the  Junction  and  Amory. 
Rube  Sm.ith  and  I  went  into  several  stores  inquir- 
ing for  Winchester  rifles,  but  could  find  none. 
We  went  into  Snow's  saloon,  and  Rube  Smith 
bought  one  gallon  of  whisky  in  a  jug,  also  one-half 
pint.  We  joined  Burrow  at  the  back  of  the  round- 
house. Rube  Burrow  then  ordered  us  to  meet 
him  at  Jim  Smith's,  about  three  and  one-half  miles 
from  Crews  Station.  He  said  he  would  go  ahead 
on  foot,  and  would  be  there  between  breakfast  and 
dinner  on  Sunday,  the  15th  inst.  We  went  to  the 
depot  to  take  the  train.  Burrow  told  Smith  and 
myself  to  be  careful  and  not  get  arrested.  We 
were  told  to  be  sure  and  meet  him,  and  were  to 
rob  Jonathan  Jones  on  Sunday  night.  Smith  said 
he  had  stayed  at  Winfield,  Ala.,  where  Jones  did 
business,  and  he  knew  he  had  a  good  deal  of 
money.  He  told  how  he  generally  came  out  from 
supper  and  stayed  at  the  store  all  night,  and  said 
we  could  "hold  him  up"  as  he  went  into  the  store 
and  make  him  open  his  safe. 


RUBE   BURROW.  89 

McClung  gave  a  faithful  account  of  the  Bucka- 
Tunna  train  robbery,  as  detailed  to  him  by  Rube 
Smith,  while  they  were  on  their  way  from  Ala- 
bama to  the  Indian  Territory. 

Time  afterv\-ards  proved  that  McClung  spoke 
the  truth,  as  before  told  in  his  confession  at  Aber- 
deen, except  as  to  one  particular — he  was  mis- 
taken as  to  the  identity  of  Rube  Burrow.  Rube 
Smith  had  brought  with  him  from  the  Indian  Ter- 
ritory a  boon  companion,  v/hom  McClung  had  not 
met,  and  who  somewhat  resembled  Burrow,  but 
who  did  not  care  to  reveal  his  identity  to  McClung. 
As  the  latter  had  never  seen  Rube  Burrow,  Smith 
easily  passed  his  comrade  off  as  the  famous  train 
robber.  It  was  afterv;ards  proved  beyond  a  doubt 
that  Rube  Burrow,  on  the  day  of  the  capture  of 
Smith  and  McClung,  drove  his  ox-cart  into  the 
pines  near  Flomaton,  Ala.,  and  camped  there  on 
that  eventful  night.  McClung,  however,  was  per- 
fectly honest  in  the  belief  that  the  pal  to  whom 
Smith  introduced  him  was  no  other  than  his  cousin 
Rube.  The  man's  name  is  well  known  to  the  ex- 
press officials,  but  as  he  never  committed,  but 
merel}'  contemplated,  a  train  robbery,  he  was  al- 
lowed to  go  back  into  the  Indian  Territor}',  and  is 
now  listed  as  a  suspect  only. 

Rube  Smith  had  conceived  the  idea  of  playing 
the  role  of  leader  in  a  train  robbery,  but  when  the 
appointed  hour  came  he  lost  confidence  in  his 
ability  for  so  bold  an  adventure,  and  abandoned 


90  RUBB   BURROW. 

the  project  for  a  less  daring  deed.  While  awaiting 
the  train,  however,  to  take  him  to  the  scene  of  his 
contemplated  crime,  he  was  arrested  as  described. 
He  was  taken  to  Waynesboro,  the  county  seat  of 
Wayne  County,  Miss.,  and  on  April  i,  1890,  was 
convicted  and  sentenced  to  ten  years,  the  extent 
of  the  penalty,  in  the  state-prison,  for  robbing  the 
Southern  Express  car  at  Buckatunna,  Miss. 


RUBE     SMriH. 


RUBE   BURROW.  9 1 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

A  FALSE  ALARM — THE  OX-CART  TRIP  TO  FLORIDA — THE 
SEPARATION — RUBE  LOCATED  AT  BROXTON  FERRY — 
HIS    ESCAPE. 

"O  UBE  and  Joe,  on  their  return  to  Lamar  Coun- 
^  ty,  found  their  lair  closely  beset  by  detectives. 
They  found  shelter,  however,  for  some  two  weeks, 
spending  the  nights  in  the  barn-loft  of  Allen  Bur- 
row, one  of  the  men  standing  watch  while  the 
other  slept. 

On  the  26th  of  October,  1889,  the  following  tel- 
egram was  received  by  an  official  of  the  Southern 
Express  Company  from  Sheriff  Morris,  of  Blount 
County,  Alabama:  "A  posse  in  charge  of  one  of 
my  deputies  attempted  to  arrest  two  men,  armed 
with  pistols  and  Winchesters,  fifteen  miles  from 
Oneonta,  Ala.,  yesterday.  They  killed  two  of  the 
posse  and  wounded  five.  Am  positive  the  men 
were  Rube  Burrow  and  Joe  Jackson." 

Repairing  to  Blount  County,  with  blood-hounds 
and  detectives,  it  was  soon  ascertained  by  the  ex- 
press officials  that  the  men  were  not  Burrow  and 
Jackson,  but  two  ''moonshiners,"  who  had  shot  and 
wounded  a  revenue  officer  at  Blockton,  Ala.,  about 
ten  days  prior  to  the  date  of  the  attack  by  the 
sheriff's  posse. 


92  RUBS   BURROW. 

Correspondents  representing  several  prominent 
southern  journals  hied  themselves  to  Blount  Coun- 
ty to  gather  the  details  of  another  tragic  chapter  in 
the  history  of  Rube  Burrow,  and  one  enterprising 
scribe,  fresh  from  the  field  of  carnage  in  Blount 
County,  went  into  Lamar  County,  bent  on  an  inter- 
view with  the  famous  bandit.  This  was  the  hand- 
some and  gifted  Barrett,  of  the  Atlanta  Constitu- 
tion. Arriving  at  Allen  Burrow's,  in  company  with 
Jim  Cash,  the  young  journalist  made  known  the 
object  of  his  visit. 

The  detectives  having  gone  on  a  false  trail  to 
Blount  County,  Rube  and  Joe  were  at  that  time  in 
old  man  Burrow's  barn-loft,  and  when  Allen  Bur- 
row took  Barrett's  horse  thither  he  revealed  to 
Rube  the  proposition  of  the  correspondent  to  in- 
terview him.  Rube  declined,  saying  he  knew  the 
paper  would  publish  a  description  of  him,  and  he 
did  not  want  that  done.  Mr.  Barrett,  however,  sent 
a  very  elaboiate  report  of  an  alleged  interview  to 
the  Constitution^  which,  as  a  faithful  historian,  the 
author  is  compelled  to  state  never  took  place. 

A  crowning  sensation  in  American  journalism 
was  reached  when  the  Age-Herald^  of  Birming- 
ham, chartered  a  special  train  to  enable  it  to  place 
upon  the  breakfast  tables  of  Atlanta  the  daring  ex- 
ploits of  Rube  in  Blount  County,  and  the  Atlanta 
Constitution  responded  by  chartering  a  like  train 
to  distribute  at  Birmingham  an  interview  with  the 
famous  bandit  while  he  was  supposed  to  sit  under 


the  very  vine  and  fig  tree  of  tlie  Age-Herald^  but, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  was  engaged  in  combing  the 
hayseed  out  of  his  hair  after  a  night's  lodging  in 
his  father's  barn. 

As  soon  as  the  Blount  County  sensation  had 
exploded,  the  detectives  of  the  Southern  Express 
Company  returned  to  Lamar  County,  and  an  in- 
cessant watch  was  kept  upon  the  houses  of  Allen 
Burrow,  Jim  Cash,  and  others.  Detectives  dis- 
guised as  peddlers  of  books,  lightning  rods,  and 
nursery  stock,  and  others  assuming  the  simple 
guise  of  tramps,  sold  Iheir  wares  in  the  one  case, 
and  begged  bread  in  the  other,  from  house  to 
house,  all  over  Lamar  County,  and  until  Allen 
Burrow  said  one  day  to  Rube: 

"  I  believe  there  is  a  detective  under  every  bush 
in  the  county  ;  you  had  better  leave." 

Rube  concluded  his  father  was  right,  and  on 
the  twentieth  day  of  November,  just  about  a  month 
after  their  arrival.  Rube  and  Joe  left  Lamar  County 
again.  The  two  men  went  afoot  to  within  a  few 
miles  of  Columbus,  Miss.,  having  resolved  to  walk 
into  Florida  and  avoid  the  necessity  of  hiding  out 
in  the  brush  all  winter  in  Lamar  County. 

Joe  Jackson  was  not  as  robust  as  Rube,  and  was 
not  physically  equal  to  the  task  of  walking  several 
hundred  miles.  He  proposed,  after  trudging  about 
eighteen  miles,  to  return  to  Lamar  County,  pur- 
chase horses,  and  make  the  trip  on  horseback. 
Rube  dissented,  fearing  their  trail  would   be  dis- 


94  RUBE  BURROW. 

covered  and  that  pursuit  would  ensue,  but  suggested 
that  they  return  to  the  home  of  Jim  Cash  and  pur^ 
chase  a  yoke  of  oxen  and  a  wagon  owned  by  him 
and  make  the  trip  in  that  way.  Joe  Jackson  was 
averse  to  this  proposition  at  first,  but  Rube  argued 
that  as  drivers  of  an  ox-cart  they  could  assume  the 
role  of  laborers  and  thus  fully  disguise  themselves. 
Returning,  therefore,  to  Cash's  house,  the  oxen 
and  cart  were  purchased. 

It  was  the  custom  of  Allen  Burrow  and  Cash 
to  make  frequent  trips  by  wagon  across  the  coun- 
try to  Columbus,  Miss.,  and  so  it  was  arranged  for 
Allen  Burrow  to  take  the  two  men,  in  a  covered 
wagon  drawn  by  two  horses,  to  within  one  mile  of 
Columbus.  Jim  Cash,  according  to  arrangement, 
followed  with  the  ox  team,  and  in  the  outskirts  of 
the  town,  after  dark,  on  the  night  of  November 
28th,  the  four  men  met.  Through  the  interven- 
tion of  Cash  an  ample  supply  of  provisions,  pur- 
chased from  a  store  in  Columbus,  was  stored  away 
in  the  wagon,  and  at  ten  o'clock  at  night  the  out- 
laws, in  the  garb  of  plodding  ox-drivers,  resumed 
their  journey  southward.  Cash  and  Burrow  re- 
turned home  the  next  day,  the  former  announcing 
that  he  had  sold  his  ox  team  in  Columbus. 

The  detectives  were  not  long  in  discovering,  by 
the  bearing  and  manner  of  the  friends  of  the  out- 
laws, that  they  had  left  Lamar  County.  Detective 
Jackson,  knowing  the  habits  and  methods  of  Rube, 
was  not  satisfied  with  Cash's  story  that  he  had  :old 


RUBS   BURROW.  95 

his  oxen  in  Columbus.  Investigation  developed 
nothing  to  corroborate  the  reported  sale,  and  De- 
tective Jackson  declared :  "  We  must  fmd  that 
team,  for  it's  just  like  Rube  to  give  us  the  slip 
hat  way." 

Going  to  Columbus,  the  faithful  detective,  day 
{ij  day,  sought  diligently  to  discover  the  missing 
team,  but  it  was  not  until  about  January  15th  that 
his  labors  were  rewarded  in  finding  the  trail  near 
CarroUton,  in  Pickens  County,  Miss.,  forty  miles 
south. of  Columbus.  The  detective  was  on  foot. 
The  outlaws  were  then  forty-five  days  ahead  of 
him,  and  were  evidently  heading  for  southern  Ala- 
bama or  Florida.  Returning  and  reporting  the 
discover^',  it  was  deemed  best  to  go  by  rail  to  Wil- 
son's Station,  on  the  Louisvile  and  Nashville  Rail- 
way, and  thence  to  Gainestown,  a  landing  on  the 
Alabama  River,  about  forty  miles  distant,  where  it 
was  thought  the  men  w^ould  cross.  The  conclusion 
had  been  wisely  made.  The  cunning  detective 
had  shrewdly  divined  the  very  spot  at  which  the 
robbers  would  cross  the  river. 

Arriving  at  Gainestown  Januar}-  24th,  Jackson 
found  that  the  ox-cart,  in  charge  of  two  men, 
had  crossed  the  river  on  the  night  of  December 
nth.  Encouraged  by  this  discovery  the  officer 
pursued  the  trail  on  through  Escambia  County, 
and  found  that  on  the  evening  of  December  14th 
the  tsvo  men  had  driven  into  Flomaton,  Ala.,  a 
small  station  ou  the  Ivouisville  and  Nashville  Rail- 


96  RUBE   BURROW. 

way,  forty  miles  north  of  Pensacola.  Here  it  was 
discovered  that  the  men  had  camped  about  half  a 
mile  from  the  station,  and  had  made  inquiries  con- 
cerning a  logging  camp  in  Santa  Rosa  County, 
Florida. 

Leaving  Flomaton  on  the  morning  of  January 
29th,  Detective  Jackson  went  to  McCurdy's  ferry, 
on  the  Escambia  River,  two  miles  south,  and  there 
ascertained  that  a  man  calling  himself  Ward  had 
crossed  the  ferry  with  an  ox  team  on  the  morning 
of  December  15th,  and  that  he  was  alone.  Pur- 
suing the  trail  south  some  twenty  miles,  Milton, 
Florida,  was  reached.  Here  it  was  found  that  one 
man  had  crossed  Blackwater  with  an  ox  team  at 
that  point  on  the  night  of  December  17th.  The 
belief  that  Joe  Jackson  had  separated  from  Rube 
at  Flomaton  was  confirmed,  for  the  man  in  charge 
of  the  ox  team  was,  beyond  question.  Rube  Burrow. 

Leaving  Milton,  the  detective  went  to  Brox- 
ton's  ferry,  on  Yellow  River,  about  ten  miles  south. 
Arriving  at  the  ferry  he  was  confronted  by  a  stream 
about  thirty  yards  wide,  whose  tortuous  length 
stretched  itself  through  a  jungle  of  cane  and  cy- 
press which  seemed  to  defy  his  further  progress. 
There  was  no  boat  in  sight,  and  the  unbroken 
wild-wood  on  the  opposite  bank  gave  no  sign  of  a 
mooring.  The  screech  of  an  owl  from  his  perch 
in  the  dark  cover  of  the  jungle  broke  the  stillness 
that  prevailed,  and  awakened  the  detective  from 
his  lonely  reverie. 


rube;  burrow.  97 

Jackson  learned  from  a  man,  wlio  came  stalk- 
ing Lhrougli  tlie  brush  at  this  juncture,  that  the 
opposite  bank  was  that  of  an  island,  and  in  order 
to  reach  the  south  side  of  the  river  the  point  of 
the  island  must  be  turned  by  rowing  about  half  a 
mile  down  stream  and  then  stemming  the  current 
for  a  like  distance  along  the  opposite  shore. 
While  the  distance  across  the  island  from  shore 
to  shore  was  only  about  five  hundred  yards,  the 
view  was  wholly  obscured  by  the  canebrake  that 
covered  it. 

By  shrewd  questioning,  Jackson  found  that 
Rube,  under  the  name  of  Ward,  was  engaged  in 
hauling  feed  from  the  landing  on  the  opposite 
shore  to  Allen's  log  camp,  about  eighteen  miles 
away,  and  at  that  very  hour  he  was  loading  for  his 
return  trip  on  the  south  bank  of  the  river.  Brox- 
ton,  the  ferryman,  had,  unfortunately,  gone  to  Mil- 
ton with  the  only  boat  used  at  the  ferry,  and  it  was 
impossible  to  cross  the  river  that  day. 

It  was  ascertained  that  Rube's  practice  was  to 
leave  the  log  camp  about  seven  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  reach  the  ferry  about  two  in  the  after- 
noon, and  after  loading  repair  to  the  house  of 
Broxton,  the  ferryman,  where  he  would  spend  the 
night,  and  making  an  early  start  on  the  succeed  - 
ing  day  arrive  at  the  camp  in  the  afternoon.  It 
hajd,  therefore,  been  his  practice  to  reach  the  ferry 
landing  on  Yellow  River  every  alternate  day. 

Jackson,  being   unable  to  cross   the   river,  re- 


9$  RUi$B   BURROW. 

turned  to  Milton  on  February  4th,  and  sent  tlie  fol- 
lowing telegram  to  an  official  of  the  Southern  Ex- 
press Company :  "I  expect  to  secure  title  to  tract 
number  one,  about  ten  miles  south  of  here,  Wednes- 
day, February  6th.  The  papers  are  all  in  good 
shape." 

Rube  Burrow  had  always  been  designated  in 
correspondence  between  the  officers  and  detectives 
as  number  one,  and  the  telegram  therefore  meant 
that  Jackson  had  located  his  man,  that  his  plans 
were  in  good  shape,  and  the  capture  would  be 
made  at  the  hour  and  place  designated. 

At  four  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  February  6th 
Jackson  was  joined  at  Milton  by  the  express  offi- 
cials, to  whom  the  details  of  the  situation  were 
given.  At  an  early  hour  the  start  for  Broxton's 
ferry  was  made  in  a  hack,  Jackson  having  selected 
four  reliable  men  from  Milton  to  assist  him.  The 
party  reached  the  ferry  landing  on  the  north  bank 
of  the  river  about  eleven  o'clock  a.  m.,  and  after 
some  difficulty  a  boat  was  secured  and  a  landing 
on  the  south  shore  was  effected. 

It  had  been  determined  at  first  to  continue  the 
journey  beyond  the  river  and  capture  Rube  in  the 
road,  but  on  reaching  the  south  landing  the  sur- 
roundings seemed  so  advantageous  that  it  was  de- 
cided to  await  his  arrival  at  the  ferry.  The  road- 
way, after  leaving  the  south  bank  of  the  river  a  few 
miles,  wends  its  course  through  a  sparsely  timbered 
pine  forest.     It  is  very  straight,  and  persons  trav- 


RUBE   BURROW.  99 

ersing  it  from  opposite  directions  could  see  each 
other  for  miles.  It  was  therefore  feared  that  Rube, 
ever  on  the  alert,  might  take  the  alarm  at  sight  of 
the  posse.  On  the  contrary,  at  the  ferry  all  seemed 
propitious.  There  was  moored  the  boat  which  con- 
tained the  camp  supplies  to  be  loaded  into  Rube's 
cart  with  his  own  hands.  It  seemed  a  very  trap, 
baited  and  set  in  the  certain  pathway  of  some 
beast  whose  lair  had  just  been  discovered,  and 
here  it  was  agreed  to  quietly  await  the  hour  of  his 
coming.  The  exit  from  the  landing  where  the 
boat  was  moored  was  a  narrow  corduroy  road  that 
debouched  from  the  water's  edge,  through  over- 
hanging boughs  and  vines,  for  some  three  hun- 
dred yards,  to  the  foot  of  a  hill,  and,  curving  to 
the  south,  shut  out  all  further  view  from  the  river. 
On  either  side  of  the  road,  approaching  the  land- 
ing, were  the  fallen  trunks  of  huge  cypress  trees, 
which  afforded  a  splendid  cover  for  the  posse. 

At  the  hour  of  noon,  with  the  ferryman  sitting 
not  thirty  paces  distant,  so  as  to  watch  the  road 
and  give  the  signal  when  the  cart  should  appear 
in  sight,  the  posse  went  into  ambush  and  anxiously 
awaited  Rube's  arrival.  He  had  never  been  later 
than  two  o'clock  in  reaching  the  ferry.  It  had 
been  arranged  that  upon  his  arrival,  and  immedi- 
ately upon  his  halting  his  team,  all  six  of  the  posse 
would  cover  him  with  their  breech-loading  shot- 
guns, and  Detective  Jackson  should  order  tlie  ban- 
idit  to  surrender;  and  if  he  failed  to  do  so,  the  dis- 


lOO  RUBE   BURROW. 

charge  of  Jackson's  gun  would  be  a  signal  for  the 
rest  of  the  posse  to  fire. 

Every  alternate  day  for  five  weeks  Rube  had 
arrived  at  this  spot  between  two  and  three  o'clock 
p.  M.  The  presence  of  the  posse  at  the  ferry  was 
known  to  no  one  save  the  ferryman,  and  he  was 
kept  under  careful  surveillance.  The  capture  of 
the  outlaw  seemed  absolutely  certain. 

As  the  silent  hours  rolled  by  the  detectives 
watched  with  bated  breath  for  the  signal  from  the 
ferryman.  In  the  awful  stillness  that  prevailed 
the  ticking  of  the  watches  that  marked  the  passing 
hours  could  be  heard.  Two  o'clock,  three  o'clock, 
four  o'clock  came,  and  yet  the  crack  of  the  ox- 
driver's  whip,  the  longed-for  music  of  tlie"gee- 
whoa,"  which,  on  Rube's  coming,  were  wont  to  dis- 
turb the  solitude  of  this  wild  retreat,  were  heard 
not.  Finally,  at  five  o  clock,  after  another  hour  of 
anxious  waiting  had  passed,  a  colored  laborer  in 
the  log  camp  from  which  Rube  was  expected,  ap- 
peared. He  was  questioned  as  to  the  whereabouts 
of  Ward,  the  name  assumed  by  Burrow,  and  an- 
swered that  one  of  his  oxen  was  sick ;  that  he  had 
not  started  at  eleven  o'clock,  and  would  probably 
not  come  until  next  day.  This  was  a  sore  disap- 
pointment. The  camp  could  not  be  reached  until 
long  after  dark.  The  outlaw  might  start  at  any 
hour,  and  the  posse  might  miss  him  in  some  of  the 
many  by-roads  that  intervened  the  long  distance. 
It  was  concluded,  therefore,  to  remain  on  watch  at 


RUBU    BURROW.  lOI 

the  ferty,  hoping  that  he  might  still  arrive  before 
night. 

With  the  slowly  sinking  sun  sank  the  hopes  of 
the  anxious  officers,  who  felt  that  the  cover  of 
night  would  bring  some  untoward  event  to  mar 
the  plans  which  had  been  arranged  for  the  capture. 
Darkness  came,  but  the  silent  watch  was  contin- 
ued. Broxton,  the  ferr>'man,  lived  about  one  mile 
from  the  ferry,  and  immediately  on  the  road  along 
which  Rube  had  to  travel.  It  was  now  quite  cer- 
tain if  Rube  should  arrive  he  would  spend  the 
night  at  Broxton' s  and  reach  the  ferry  next  morn- 
ing. Ascertaining  that  there  was  a  vacant  house  a 
few  hundred  yards  beyond  the  house  of  the  ferry- 
man, and  only  a  few  feet  from  the  road,  it  was  de- 
termined best  to  remove  the  posse  to  this  building 
and  watch  there  during  the  night. 

About  seven  o'clock  the  posse  started  from  the 
river,  giving  orders  to  the  driver  of  the  hack  not  to 
follow  until  time  had  been  allowed  the  advance 
guard  to  reach  the  ferryman's  house.  This  order 
was,  however,  disobeyed,  and  just  as  the  detectives 
approached  the  house,  and  when  only  about  three 
hundred  yards  distant.  Rube  drove  up  to  the  gate 
and  inquired  of  Mrs.  Broxton  the  whereabouts  of 
her  husband. 

The  woman  answered :  "  He  has  been  at  the 
river  all  day  with  a  party  of  hunters." 

Rube,  ever  on  the  qui  vive^  gathered  his  Marlin 
rifle  from  his  cart,  saying :  "  I'll  go  down  and  see 
Mr.  Broxton." 


I02  RUBE   BURROW. 

Walking  towards  the  ferry  about  fifty  yards  he 
heard  strange  voices,  saw  the  hack,  and  intuitively 
knew  that  he  himself  was  the  game  the  hunters 
were  after.  Like  a  deer  he  bounded  into  the  forest 
and  was  lost  to  his  pursuers. 

A  guard  was  placed  over  the  team  which  Rube 
had  left  as  a  trophy  to  his  would-be  captors,  in  the 
hope  that  the  owner  would  return  to  confirm  his 
doubts,  if  he  had  any,  but  Rube  took  the  safe  side, 
ran  no  risk,  and  did  not  return. 

Rube  set  out  at  once  for  the  log  camp,  arriving 
there  about  midnight.  Arousing  the  cook,  he  bade 
him  prepare  supper,  which  he  ate  with  great  relish, 
while  he  recounted  a  story  of  thrilling  adventure 
with  highwaymen,  in  which  he  had  luckily  escaped 
with  his  life.  Supplying  himself  with  a  goodly 
store  of  provisions  from  the  camp's  larder,  the  out- 
law about  three  o'clock  a.  m.  said  good-bye  to  his 
comrades,  and  went  forth  into  the  solitude  of  the 
forest,  consoling  himself  with  the  reflection  that  he 
had  again  outwitted  the  detectives. 

There  are  those  who  would  doubtless  have 
managed  the  affair  at  Broxton's  Ferry,  on  the 
eventful  evening  of  February  6th,  differently,  per- 
haps successfully,  but  fortunately  for  Rube  they 
were  not  present. 

The  ox  team  was  taken  to  Milton  and  sold  for 
the  sum  of  $80. 

Detective  Jackson,  undaunted  by  the  luckless 
result  of  the  chase,  equipped  himself  for  a  tour 


RtJBE  BURROW.  I03 

through  the  swamps  of  Santa  Rosa,  and,  leaving 
him  in  pursuit,  the  rest  of  the  party  turned  their 
faces  homeward. 

As  an  example  of  the  unparalleled  audacity  of 
the  noted  train  robber  it  may  liere  be  recorded  that 
a  few  weeks  afterward  he  endeavored  to  recover 
the  value  of  the  oxen  and  cart  by  executing  a  bill 
of  sale  therefor  to  one  Charles  Wells.  The  latter 
demanded  the  property,  but  it  is  needless  to  say  he 
did  not  succeed  in  obtaining  it.  The  express  ofi&- 
cials  notified  the  would-be  purchaser  that  the  out- 
fit had  been  sold,  and  that  the  title  of  the  part}''  to 
whom  sold  would  be  defended  against  any  and  all 
claimants. 


104  TSiVBS;  BURROW. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

CAPTURE    OF,  JOE    JACKSON. 

TOURING  the  summer  of  1890,  after  having  been 
"^-^^  routed  from  his  haunts  on  Yellow  River  on 
February  6th,  it  v/as  known  that  Rube  Burrow  was 
in  the  swamps  of  Florida,  near  East  Bay,  and  that 
Joe  Jackson  was  not  with  him.  It  was  definitely 
ascertained  that  they  had  separated  at  Flomaton, 
Ala.,  on  the  14th  of  December,  1889,  when  Rube 
drove  his  ox-cart  into  Santa  Rosa  County,  Florida. 
It  was  known  that  the  two  men  had  made  an 
agreement  to  meet  in  Baldwin  County,  Ala.,  on 
the  20th  of  February,  1890.  The  information  as 
to  this  proposed  meeting  was  reliable.  It  was  evi- 
dently their  intention  to  rob  a  train  at  Dyer's 
Creek,  a  point  about  thirty  miles  north  of  Mobile. 
The  routing  of  Rube,  however,  from  his  hiding 
place  in  Florida  interfered  with  this  project. 

Joe  Jackson  was  promptly  on  hand  at  the  ren- 
dezvous, the  exact  locality  of  which  was  not  then 
definitely  known  to  the  detectives.  He  had  seen 
in  the  Courier-Journal  a  notice  of  the  pursuit  of 
Rube  Burrow  in  Florida,  and  was  very  cautious  in 
going  to  the  place  agreed  upon.  He  however  made 
his  appearance  at  Dyer's.     He  waited  about  there 


RUBE   BURROW.  I05 

only  one  day,  and  not  finding  Rube,  he  left,  espe- 
cially as  he  casually  heard  that  the  detectives  were 
looking  for  Rube  Burrow  in  that  country. 

Traveling  from  place  to  place  until  May,  1890, 
and  restless  over  the  long  separation  from  Rube, 
Jackson  went  back  into  Lamar  County,  as  it  was 
expected  he  would.  His  presence  in  that  locality 
was  soon  known  to  Detective  Jackson,  but  there 
were  so  many  hiding  places  among  the  Burrow 
kinsfolk  that  it  was  difficult  to  locate  him.  It  was 
expected  daily  that  Rube  would  join  him,  but  not 
so.     Rube  still  confined  himself  to  Florida. 

Detective  Jackson  knowing  that  Joe  was  in 
Lamar  County,  determined  to  capture  him.  Tak- 
ing a  trusty  man  with  him  he  went  into  Lamar 
County,  traveling  by  night  and  afoot,  and  camped 
in  the  woods  a  few  hundred  yards  from  the  home 
of  Allen  Burrow.  His  night  vigils  were  soon  re- 
warded by  observing  suspicious  movements,  and 
an  interchange  of  visits  between  old  man  Allen 
Burrow  and  Jim  Cash.  They  were  evidently  pre- 
paring for  a   trip. 

About  dark  on  the  night  of  the  15th  of  July 
Jim  Cash  and  Joe  Jackson  rode  out  from  the  home 
of  Allen  Burrow  in  the  direction  of  Fernbank,  on 
the  Georgia  Pacific  Road.  The  detectives  were 
close  upon  their  trail,  and  as  it  was  evident  that 
Jackson  was  en  route  to  take  a  train  on  the  Georgia 
Pacific  Road  it  was  not  deemed  safe  to  attempt  the 
capture  at  night  on  the  open  roadway. 


I06  RUBB    BURROW. 

Detective  Jackson  covered  all  trains  east  ^aid 
west  of  Fernbank  with  careful  men,  and  he  him- 
self boarded  the  train  at  Kennedy,  a  few  miles  east 
of  Fernbank,  with  ex-Sheriff  Pennington  and  Sher- 
iff Metcalf,  of  Lamar  County.  At  Fernbank  Joe 
Jackson  boarded  the  train.  He  deliberately  walked 
into  the  ladies'  car  and  took  a  seat.  The  detect- 
ives were  in  the  smoking  car  ahead,  but  kept  the 
nfbber  under  close  surveillance. 

On  arriving  at  the  first  station  Detective  Jack- 
son got  out  and  went  to  the  rear  of  the  ladies'  car. 
Entering,  he  took  a  seat,  unobserved,  immediately 
behind  Joe  Jackson,  and  sat  there  until  the  train 
reached  Columbus,  Miss.  When  the  train  stopped, 
and  Joe  stepped  out  of  the  coach,  he  was  covered 
by  the  pistols  of  the  detectives  and  was  arrested 
without  a  shot  being  fired.  He  had  left  his  pistols 
at  Allen  Burrow's,  and,  as  afterwards  learned,  was 
fft  route  to  Pleasant  Hill,  La.,  the  home  of  his 
uncle,  J.  T.  Harrell,  having  become  tired  of  wait- 
ing for  Rube  Burrow's  arrival. 

The  prisoner  was  taken  to  Memphis,  Tenn., 
where,  upon  being  confronted  with  the  overwhelm- 
ing evidence  against  him,  he  made  the  confe$*ion 
recorded  in  the  next  chapter. 


RUBE   BURROW.  I07 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

CONFESSION  OF  LEONARD  CALVERT  BROCK,  ALIAS  JOE 
JACKSON,  MADE  AT  MEMPHIS,  TENN.,  JULY  19,  189O, 
AND  CORRECTED  AND  AMENDED  AT  JACKSON,  MISS., 
OCTOBER    16,    1890. 

TEONARD  CALVERT  BROCK  is  my  full 
-^  name.  I  was  born  in  Coffee  County,  Ala., 
July  13,  i860.  My  father's  name  is  Joseph  E. 
Brock,  and  he  was  born  near  Raleigh,  N.  C.  He 
is  a  physician  by  profession.  He  moved  from  there 
to  Georgia,  and  then  to  Alabama.  My  mother's 
name  Tsrsi?  Sallie  F,  Harrell,  and  she  was  born  in 
Georgis..  My  parents  were  married  in  Georgia 
before  coming  to  Alabama.  I  have  one  brother, 
whose  name  is  John  Brock.  He  was  born  in  1863, 
and  now  lives  on  a  farm  in  Coffee  County,  Ala. 
I  have  a  married  sister,  who  was  born  in  1852, 
Rebecca  Katherine  Brock.  She  married  William 
Russell,  and  lives  in  Coffee  County.  The  post- 
office  address  of  all  the  above  named  parties  is 
Elba,  Ala. 

I  was  never  married.  Was  raised  on  a  farm, 
and  my  schooling  was  limited.  I  went  to  school 
to  a  good  teacher  about  eight  months.  Remained 
on  a  farm  in  Coffee  County,  Ala.,  until  1886,  when 


!08  RUBK   BURROW. 

I  went  to  Texas,  on  account  of  a  cutting  scrape, 
the  particulars  of  which  are  as  follows:  I  had  a 
negro  working  for  me  whose  name  was  Louis 
Chapman.  We  had  some  hot  words  about  a  busi- 
ness matter,  and  I  stabbed  him  very  severely.  I 
was  also  accused  of  killing  a  negro  in  Coffee 
(;.ounty  about  the  same  time,  and  on  account  ri 
these  troubles  I  left  home.  I  am  innocent  of  the 
murder  of  the  negro. 

I  went  to  Texas  via  the  Southern  Pacific  route, 
and  stopped  at  San  Antonio,  where  I  went  to  work 
for  one  Robert  Daniels.  Daniels  was  engaged  iu 
buying  horses  and  driving  them  to  northern  Texas. 
I  went  to  Dallas  from  San  Antonio,  and  worked 
awhile  in  a  lumber  yard.  I  also  worked  a  month 
for  a  man  named  Brown.  Then  I  went  to  Sher- 
man and  stayed  a  few  days,  but  was  unable  to  get 
'vork.  I  went  from  there  to  Gainesville,  and  from 
there  to  the  Indian  Territory,  where  I  worked  for 
a  man  named  John  Pair. 

I  then  went  back  to  Cook  County,  Texas,  in  the 
Houthwest  part  of  the  county.  There  I  first  saw 
Rube  Burrow,  in  company  with  a  man  whom  he 
called  "Bill."  This  was  in  the  spring  of  1886. 
Burrow  employed  me  to  help  get  up  cattle.  We 
went  down  into  Young  County,  and  from  there  to 
Wise  County.  J  did  not  visit  Burrow's  house  at 
any  time.  We  drove  some  cattle  to  Fort  Worth 
and  sold  them.  He  sold  about  thirty  or  forty  head. 
Then  he  quit  the  cattle  business  and  discharged 


RUBE  BURROW.  IO9 

I  then  went  to  Texarkana  and  worked  at  a  saw 
mill  for  a  few  days.  I  then  went  to  Shreveport 
and  got  work  at  a  sawmill  about  one  hundred  miles 
below  Shreveport.  I  went  from  there  to  New  Or- 
leans, and  from  there  to  Mobile,  and  worked  a  few 
days  in  a  livery  stable  for  a  man  named  Metzger. 
I  went  from  there,  in  the  fall  of  1887,  to  Pensacola, 
and  got  work  driving  a  team.  From  there  I  went 
to  Milton,  and  drove  a  team  for  a  man  named  Col- 
lins for  some  time,  and  went  from  there  to  Florida 
and  remained  there,  working  part  of  the  time. 
I  was  at  several  stations  on  the  Pensacola  and 
Atlantic  Road. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1887  I  went  from  there  to 
Texas.  First  I  stopped  at  Sherman,  and  worked 
there  for  a  few  days.  I  stayed  there  until  Febru- 
ary, 1888.  There  I  got  a  letter  from  Burrow.  He 
addressed  me  as  Lewis  Waldrip.  I  was  then  going 
by  that  name.  He  said  he  was  in  trouble,  but  did 
not  say  what  it  was,  and  asked  me  to  come  to  him. 
The  letter  was  written  from  Vernon.  I  replied  to 
the  letter,  addressing  it  to  James  Cash,  and  told 
him  I  was  undecided  whether  to  come  or  not.  I 
received  another  letter  from  him,  also  from  Ver- 
non, Ala. 

About  the  first  of  March,  1888,  I  went  to  Ala- 
bama. I  went  via  Memphis,  and  got  off  the  train 
at  Sulligent,  and  went  to  old  man  Burrow's  by  way 
of  Vernon.  I  found  Burrow  at  Cash's  house.  He 
then  told  me  that  detectives  were  searching  for  him, 


no  RUBE   BURROW. 

and  told  me  about  his  arrest  and  escape  at  Mont- 
gomery. He  stated  they  had  gotten  off  the  train 
at  Montgomery  and  started  up  the  street,  when 
policemen  attempted  to  arrest  them.  He  escaped, 
after  shooting  one  of  them,  but  his  brother  was 
captured.  He  was  pursued  by  a  party  and  sur- 
rounded in  a  negro  cabin,  where  he  had  gone  to 
get  some  coffee.  He  ran  out  of  the  house  to  the 
timber  and  escaped  unhurt,  although  fired  upon. 
He  sat  down  in  the  bushes,  and  although  he  had 
no  cartridges  he  pretended  to  be  loading  his  pistol, 
and  they  were  afraid  to  attack  him.  He  went 
from  there  back  to  Lamar  County,  Ala. 

After  I  arrived  in  Lamar  County,  in  March, 
1888,  we  stayed  there  about  a  week,  and  then  went 
south  to  Monroe  County,  crossing  the  Georgia  Pa- 
cific Road  at  Columbus,  Miss.  We  went  into  Co- 
lumbus, Miss. ;  from  there  to  Artesia,  Miss.,  and 
thence  to  Meridian.  We  took  a  boat  on  the  Tom- 
bigbee  River  and  went  to  Coffeeville,  Ala.,  and 
then  walked  to  Baldwin  County,  Ala.  We  worked 
in  Dunnaway's  log  camp  there,  and  it  was  here  we 
met  John  Barnes.  I  drove  a  log  team  for  Dunna^ 
way,  and  Burrow  sawed  logs  with  Barnes.  We 
remained  there  three  weeks.  Dunnaway  then 
moved  his  teams  to  a  point  on  the  L.  &  N.  Road, 
near  Perdido  Station.  I  carried  a  team  there  for 
him,  and  he  then  discharged  me  and  Burrow,  and 
we  sawed  logs  at  another  camp  for  a  few  days. 
We  then  left,  and  crossed  the  Alabama  River  near 


L.  c.  iROCK,  alias  joe  jacxsost- 


rube;  burrow.  hi 

Fort  Claiborne.  We  crossed  the  Tombigbee  River 
at  the  station  where  the  railroad  crosses  the  river. 
Workmen  were  engaged  in  painting  the  bridge, 
and  asked  us  not  to  cross  on  the  bridge,  and  we 
went  down  and  crossed  at  the  ferry.  We  then 
went  north  until  we  got  into  Mississippi,  and  went 
via  Buckatunna  to  Ellisville.  Then  we  went  to 
Forrest,  Miss.  We  bought  our  horses  in  Smith 
County,  Miss.  I  traded  my  horse  at  Dixon,  Miss., 
giving  $15  to  boot.  The  horse  cost  $90.  Burrow 
paid  $85  for  his  horse.  From  Dixon  we  went  to 
Oxford,  via  Houston,  Miss.  We  went  through  Ox- 
ford on  horseback.  We  went  on  to  Berryhill's, 
Rube  Burrow's  brother-in-law,  arriving  there  about 
eleven  o'clock  A.  m.  Berryhill  was  absent,  but  re- 
turned that  evening.  We  remained  there  two  days. 
Left  there  in  the  afternoon,  and  went  east  to  Oko- 
lona.  Went  thence  to  Cotton  Gin,  Miss.,  and  from 
there  to  Vernon,  Ala.,  stopping  at  Cash's  house. 
We  got  to  Lamar  County  in  the  middle  of  May. 
Cash  kept  my  horse  and  Burrow  took  his  to  his 
father's.  We  remained  there,  being  most  of  the 
time  near  Cash's  house,  until  the  early  part  of 
August,  when  Reuben  Burrow,  having  learned  that 
his  brother  Jim,  who  was  in  the  penitentiary  at 
Little  Rock,  Ark.,  for  safe  keeping,  would  be  taken 
to  Texarkana  about  the  fifth  of  September  for  trial, 
determined  to  go  to  his  rescue.  We  talked  the 
matter  over,  and  resolved  to  rescue  him  from  the 
guards,  even  if  we  had  to  kill  them  to  do  so.     I  do 


112  RUBE  BURROW. 

not  recollect  what  date  it  was,  but  we  saddled  our 
horses,  one  at  John  Burrow's  and  one  at  Jim  Cash's, 
on  a  dark  night  in  the  early  part  of  August,  and 
started  on  the  Arkansas  trip.  We  crossed  the 
Tombigbee  River  at  Cotton  Gin,  Miss.,  and  came 
through  Okolona,  Miss.,  through  Oxford,  Miss., 
through  Sardis,  Miss.,  and  took  a  westerly  course 
to  Helena,  Ark.,  where  we  crossed  the  Mississippi 
River.  Went  from  Helena  to  Pine  Blufif,  crossing 
the  White  River  at  St.  Charles.  Crossed  the  Ar- 
kansas River  nine  miles  south  of  Pine  Bluff;  then 
went  to  Malvern  ;  then  to  Donaldson,  fifteen  miles 
south  of  Malvern,  where  we  expected  to  get  Jim 
Burrow  from  the  train.  Then  we  passed  Arkadel- 
phia,  remaining  there  one  night,  and  went  down  to 
Curtis,  fifteen  miles  south  of  Arkadelphia.  There 
we  searched  two  trains  for  Jim  Burrow,  but  failed 
to  find  him.  We  then  came  back  through  Arka- 
delphia to'Donaldson.  There  we  searched  two  or 
three  trains.  Then  we  went  up  to  Malvern,  and 
boarded  two  or  three  trains  there.  While  at  Curtis, 
Ark.,  we  learned  that  there  was  a  train  which 
would  not  stop  at  that  place,  but  would  stop  at 
Arkadelphia,  and  Rube  said  he  would  go  back  to 
Arkadelphia.  We  made  the  trip,  riding  hard,  but 
not  in  time  to  get  on  the  train.  Just  as  we  rode 
into  the  town  the  train  pulled  out. 

Then  we  lost  all  hope  of  getting  Jim  Burrow, 
and  came  on  to  Pine  Bluff,  crossing  the  Arkansas 
River  nine  miles  south  of  Pine  Bluff,  and  came  ou 


RUB3S  BURROW.  tl^ 

back  through  the  country  to  DeWitt,  and  crossed 
the  White  River  at  a  point  twelve  or  fifteen  miles 
north  of  St.  Charles,  Ark.,  and  went  on  back  to 
Helena,  crossing  the  Mississippi  River  at  Helena. 
Stayed  all  night  at  a  little  town  on  the  Mississippi 
River,  fifteen  miles  above  Helena,  on  the  east  side 
of  the  river.  Next  day  we  came  out  through  the 
bottom,  wading  our  horses  through  mud  knee  deep 
for  fifteen  miles.  Stayed  all  night  two  miles  from 
the  ferry,  and  there  met  Fletcher  Stephens,  who 
wanted  to  hire  hands  to  pick  cotton.  Burrow  pro- 
posed that  we  go  to  work  picking  cotton  for  Ste- 
phens. Stephens  agreed,  and  gave  us  fifty  cents 
per  hundred  and  our  board.  This  was  about  the 
first  of  October,  1888.  Burrow  was  a  good  cotton 
picker,  but  I  was  not.  We  picked  cotton  until 
about  December  first,  and  Stephens  paid  us  $50. 

We  then  went  from  there  to  Sardis.  Remained 
all  night  at  Sardis,  and  crossed  the  Tallahatchie 
and  went  south  to  Berryhill's,  where  we  stayed 
one  day.  Went  from  there  to  Water  Valley,  Miss., 
and  stayed  there  all  night.  Put  our  horses  up  at 
a  stable  there.  Had  decided  at  this  time  to  rob  a 
train,  but  no  place  or  time  had  been  set.  We  de- 
cided on  robbing  a  train  before  we  left  Berryhill's. 

While  looking  at  some  horses  at  the  livery  sta- 
ble at  Water  Valley,  Burrow  and  I  noticed  a  police- 
man eyeing  us  closely.  This  made  us  rather  un- 
easy, and  when  the  policeman  went  from  the  stable 
to  the  hotel  where  we  were  stopping,  Burrow  fol- 


114  RUBE   BURROW. 

lowed  him  and  went  to  the  hotel  and  got  his  sad- 
dle-bags, which  he  had  left  there.  We  then  sad- 
dled our  horses  and  left. 

We  stayed  at  a  widow's  house  that  night,  and 
as  it  was  raining  next  day  we  stopped  at  ten  o'clock 
at  a  house  and  remained  there  until  next  morning. 
We  then  went  south,  and  took  dinner  next  day  ten 
or  twelve  miles  from  Duck  Hill,  Miss.  Arrived  at 
Duck  Hill  soon  after  dark  on  the  night  of  Decem- 
ber 15, 1889.  I  went  into  a  store  and  bought  two 
boxes  of  sardines;  went  back,  and  we  waited  a 
short  while  for  the  train.  The  horses  were  hitched 
out  about  half  a  mile  or  so  from  town,  and  east  of 
the  track. 

When  the  train  pulled  into  the  station  we  were 
in  plain  sight.  There  was  nobody  out,  as  it  was  a 
bad  night.  We  were  there  close  by  the  station. 
We  got  on  the  engine  just  as  it  was  ready  to  pull 
out,  both  on  the  same  side,  and  each  one  of  us  had 
a  pistol.  I  did  not  point  my  pistol  directly  at  either 
engineer  or  fireman,  but  we  covered  them  and  or- 
dered them  to  run  out  a  certain  distance,  about 
eight  hundred  yards  from  the  station,  and  stop. 
The  engineer  was  in  the  act  of  stopping  the  train 
when  we  got  on  the  engine,  but  we  made  him  pull 
out.  When  he  stopped  the  train  I  stepped  on  the 
ground  first.  Just  as  I  stepped  on  [the  ground  I 
fired  off  my  pistol  in  the  air,  and  about  that  time 
Burrow,  the  engineer  and  the  fireman  got  out,  and 
we  all  walked  back  to  the  express  car.     About  the 


RUBE  BURROW.  II5 

time  I  fired  my  pistol  I  noticed  the  door  of  the  ex- 
press car  was  open.  Burrow  went  in  the  express 
car.     I  remained  on  the  ground. 

Pretty  soon  I  saw  a  man  walking  towards  me 
from  the  passenger  coaches,  and  told  him  to  go 
back.  I  thought  he  was  going  to  shoot  me,  and  I 
asked  the  engineer  to  tell  him  to  go  back,  and  the 
engineer  did  so.  The  engineer  asked  me  at  the 
same  time  not  to  shoot  him — that  the  man  had 
nothing  to  shoot  me  with — and  I  did  not  shoot  him. 
The  man  did  not  turn  back,  and  the  negro  fireman 
told  him  to  turn  back,  and  he  then  did  so.  In  a 
few  minutes  some  one  down  by  the  passenger 
coach  spoke,  and  at  the  same  time  commenced 
shooting  at  us.  The  engineer  ran,  I  don't  know 
where  to,  and  as  they  commenced  shooting  (I  think 
they  had  fired  about  two  shots)  I  commenced  fir- 
ing. I  kept  advancing  from  the  train,  in  order  to 
dodge  their  shots.  There  was  somebody  else  down 
in  one  of  the  coaches  who  shot  out  several  times — 
probably  four  or  five  times. 

After  the  shooting  was  over  I  walked  back  to 
the  side  of  the  express  car  and  stood  there  until 
Burrow  came  out.  I  did  not  know  there  was  any- 
body shot.  I  fired  one  shot  when  I  stepped  off  the 
angine,  and  fired  four  shots  while  standing  at  the 
express  car.  I  could  see  the  man  I  was  shooting 
at,  but  very  indistinctly.  Did  not  hear  him  cry  out 
when  shot.  I  remained  by  the  car,  after  the  shoot- 
ing, until  Burrow  got  out.    The  negro  fireman  said 


Il6  RUBE   BURROW. 

to  me,  "Don't  shoot' me."  I  said  I  was  not  going 
to  shoot  him. 

I  think  I  saw  Burrow  in  the  car  door  while  the 
shooting  was  going  on  outside.  We  were  all  shoot- 
ing rapidly,  and  I  could  not  tell  much  about  Bur- 
row's shooting.  When  we  left  the  car  we  loaded 
our  pistols.  I  put  in  five  cartridges,  and  he  put 
three,  he  said,  in  his. 

We  then  made  our  way  back  to  our  horses,  got 
on  them  and  rode  the  balance  of  the  night.  It 
was  raining  all  the  time,  and  we  waded  the  creek 
three  times,  crossing  bends,  to  get  to  our  horses. 
It  began  to  rain  very  hard  after  we  mounted  our 
horses. 

We  rode  at  least  forty  miles  by  daylight.  That 
day  we  camped  in  the  woods,  about  forty  miles 
from  the  scene  of  the  robbery.  Burrow  got  some 
corn  for  the  horses.  We  were  very  wet.  We  built 
a  fire  to  dry  our  clothes,  and  then  ate  something 
about  the  middle  of  the  day.  We  dried  the  money 
and  counted  it.  There  was  $1500  in  greenbacks 
and  $365  in  silver.  We  divided  it  half  and  half. 
This  was  on  Sunday.  That  evening  we  started 
out  about  sundown,  and  crossed  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Road  at  Weirs  Station.  Went  through  the 
town,  and  took  the  Philadelphia  road  and  rode  all 
night,  making  about  fifty  miles ;  rode  on  next  day 
until  about  eleven  o'clock.  Stopped  at  a  house 
and  got  dinner,  and  stayed  there  about  three  hours. 
On  Monday  night  we  did  not  ride  very  far.     Built 


RUBE  BURiOW.  II7 

a  fire  that  night.  Tuesday  morning  there  was  a 
heavy  frost. 

We  left  the  Philadelphia  road  next  morning, 
coming  to  Pearl  River  before  we  got  to  Phila- 
delphia. We  thought  we  might  be  waylaid  at  the 
bridge  by  detectives  and  shot,  and  when  we  got 
within  two  hundred  yards  of  the  bridge  over  Pearl 
River,  we  turned  through  the  swamps  and  swam 
the  river  about  eight  o'clock  Tuesday  morning, 
five  miles  from  Philadelphia.  We  rode  through 
the  timber  until  we  struck  a  road  leading  north 
from  Philadelphia  to  lycwisville.  Did  not  travel 
the  road.     Laid  up  that  day  in  the  woods. 

Started  about  sundown,  and  just  after  dark 
•topped  at  a  negro's  house  to  buy  corn  for  our 
horses,  but  found  no  one  at  the  house.  There 
was  a  rail  pen  full  of  corn,  and  we  could  have 
takeu  what  we  wanted,  but  we  did  not  do  it. 
Stealing  corn  was  out  of  our  line  of  business. 
Riding  on,  we  saw  a  light,  and  going  up  to  it, 
we  found  an  old  colored  woman  in  the  house. 
From  her  we  bought  twenty-five  ears  of  corn  and 
some  provisions,  paying  her  one  dollar  therefor. 
Fed  our  horses  there,  and  went  through  Lewis- 
ville  on  Tuesday  night  after  the  robbery,  and 
took  the  road  towards  Macon,  on  the  M.  &  O. 
Road.     Rode  fifty  miles  that  night. 

Next  day  we  lay  up  until  ten  o'clock,  stopping 
at  daylight.  Then  went  on  towards  Macon,  and 
turned  to  the  left  and  crossed  the  M.  &  O.  Road  at 


Il8  RtJBB  BtJRROW. 

Brooksville,  Miss.  We  inquired  here  for  tlie  road 
to  Columbus.  Went  via  Deerbrook  to  Columbus, 
riding  slowly,  and  crossed  the  Tombigbee  River 
just  before  day  at  Columbus.  Went  out  from 
Columbus  about  six  miles  and  stayed  there  that 
day. 

A  lightning  rod  man  who  lived  at  Aberdeen, 
Miss.,  came  out  to  the  house  where  we  were 
stopping.  We  remained  there  until  after  dark. 
Took  the  road  at  dark  and  traveled  toward  Ver- 
non, Ala.  Arrived  at  Vernon  about  midnight  on 
Thursday  night  after  the  robbery,  and  went  to 
Jim  Cash's  house  about  twelve  o'clock.  Got  some- 
thing to  eat  and  fed  our  horses,  and  left  word  for 
him  to  come  up  next  morning  and  get  our  horses. 
We  went  five  miles  above  there  to  a  point  in  the 
woods. 

Don't  remember  that  we  asked  Cash  anything 
about  the  robbery.  First  saw  an  account  of  it  in 
the  Memphis  Appeal^  which  came  in  a  day  or  two 
after  we  got  there.  John  Burrow  came  to  us  next 
morning.  We  did  not  say  anything  to  him  about 
the  robbery.  He  brought  us  something  to  eat. 
Told  us  where  we  could  take  our  horses  and  sell 
them.  We  turned  over  the  horses  to  John  Burrow 
that  morning,  and  he  took  them  off  to  sell  them, 
but  did  not  succeed  in  selling  the  horses  then. 
Mr.  Cash  afterwards  sold  the  bay  horse.  A  man 
there  kept  the  sorrel  horse. 

We  remained  around  there,  staying  first  in  one 


RUBE   BURROW.  IIQ 

house  and  then  in  another — most  of  the  time  at 
Cash's  house  and  John  Burrow's,  but  not  much  at 
old  man  Burrow's.  I  stayed  in  the  woods  in  day- 
time and  in  the  house  at  night. 

Stayed  there  until  some  time  in  July,  1889, 
having  arrived  there  from  the  Duck  Hill  robbery 
just  before  Christmas.  Sometime  in  the  spring 
Burrow  decided  to  send  for  a  wig,  and  sent  for  it, 
to  be  addressed  to  W.  W.  Cain.  I  don't  recollect  at 
what  post-office.  After  a  long  time  he  heard  that 
some  mail  had  come  for  W.  W.  Cain,  at  Jewell  post- 
office.  Mr.  Cash  said  that  one  day  he  asked  the 
postmaster,  Mr.  Graves,  if  there  was  any  mail  there. 
Graves  said  there  was  a  circular  or  paper  of  some 
kind  there  for  Cain,  and  he  would  bring  it  or  send 
it  down,  which  he  did  a  few  days  after. 

They  got  word  in  some  manner  that  a  wig  had 
come,  and  Burrow  alSo  got  word  that  Graves  said 
he  was  going  to  arrest  the  man  that  came  after 
it,  and  see  what  business  he  had  with  it.  Heard 
that  Graves  had  taken  it  out  of  the  wrapper  and 
was  showing  it  to  people,  and  remarked  to  several 
that  he  was  going  to  take  in  the  man  that  came  for 
it,  and  find  what  business  he  had  with  it.  Burrow 
asked  me  to  go  for  it,  but  I  did  not  want  to  go.  I 
told  him  that  to  go  after  it,  if  Graves  was  going  to 
do  a  thing  of  that  kind,  would  stir  up  a  big  fuss. 
Burrow  at  last  said  he  was  going  to  have  it,  and 
that  Graves  would  not  arrest  him,  and  he  went 
aftei  t\. 


laO  RUBE   BURROW. 

He  started  one  morning  before  day,  and,  on  ar- 
riving, went  in  the  house  from  a  door  on  the  east 
side ;  saw  Mr.  Graves  standing  behind  a  counter 
near  the  post-ofBce  department,  and  a  lady  standing 
behind  the  same  counter  near  the  other  end  of  the 
house.  As  he  stepped  in  he  spoke  to  them  po- 
litely, and  asked  Graves  if  there  was  any  mail  there 
for  W.  W.  Cain,  Graves  made  no  reply,  but  walked 
slowly  from  the  post-ofBce  department  towards  a 
double-barrelled  shotgun,  which  Burrow  said  he 
saw  sitting  behind  the  counter,  and  which  was  the 
gun  that  Graves  intended  to  arrest  the  man  with. 
'He  asked  him  a  second  time  if  there  was  any  mail 
there  for  W.  W.  Cain,  and  Graves  said  "  Yes,"  but 
still  advanced  towards  the  gun.  Burrow  told  him 
to  get  the  mail,  and  he  made  no  eSbrt  to  go  to  get 
it,  and  Burrow  then  pulled  his  pistol  and  shot  him, 
saying,  "Get  it  for  me,  or  I  will  shoot  you  again." 
About  that  time  Graves  began  to  fall,  and  the  lady 
said,  "Don't  shoot  him  any  more;  I  will  get  the 
mail  for  you."  She  then  went  and  found  part  of 
the  mail,  and  Burrow  asked  her  if  there  was  any 
more.  She  told  him  she  thought  there  was,  and 
found  it  and  gave  it  to  him,  and  he  then  left,  going 
out  the  same  door  he  came  in. 

There  was  a  negro  in  the  house  who  ran  out 
just  as  Burrow  pulled  his  pistol,  and  while  he  was 
standing  there  he  saw  the  negro's  head  around  the 
door,  but  he  ran  off  again. 

Burrow  got  back  at  ten  o'clock  that  night  to 


RUBE   BURROW.  121 

where  I  was  staying,  at  Jim  Cash's  house.  He 
waked  me  and  told  me  that  he  had  to  shoot  that 
man  to  get  his  mail.  Before  Burrow  went  to  the 
post-office  I  advised  him  not  to  go  for  the  mail,  as 
he  had  heard  that  Graves  intended  to  arrest  the 
man.  I  said,  "  You  might  shoot  him,  and  it  would 
cause  a  great  deal  of  trouble."  But  he  said  he 
was  going  to  have  it,  and  that  it  was  his  and  he 
had  paid  for  it. 

After  he  came  to  me  that  night  and  told  me 
that  he  had  shot  him,  we  then  went  out  and  laid 
in  the  woods.  We  left  without  seeing  Cash,  and 
went  over  about  a  mile  north  of  Cash's  in  the  hills, 
and  remained  there  until  that  evening  about  three 
or  four  o'clock,  when  Mr.  Cash  and  John  Burrow 
came  from  SuUigent.  We  heard  their  wagon  com- 
ing, and  got  near  the  road,  where  we  saw  them. 
Cash  told  us  where  to  go,  and  he  would  bring  us 
something  to  eat  next  morning.  Cash  only  re- 
mained a  few  minutes ;  said  he  had  heard  Graves 
was  killed.     Burrow  said  nothing  about  it. 

That  night  we  went  to  a  place  which  was  over 
in  another  direction,  about  half  a  mile  from  Cash's. 
He  brought  us  something  to  eat,  and  we  remained 
there  one  or  two  days.  We  then  went  nearer  to 
Cash's  house,  and  remained  in  the  bushes  for  a  few 
days.  Then  we  went  to  John  Burrow's  and  stayed 
in  the  bushes,  probably  two  or  three  days,  when 
the  men  came  from  Aberdeen.  The  night  they 
came  was  a  wet  and  rainy  night,  and  we  went  m 


131  RUBE   BURROW. 

John  Burrow's  house  to  sleep.  Next  morning,  just 
before  day,  I  went  out  of  the  house  and  discovered 
three  men  lying  on  the  ground.  I  got  within 
four  or  five  feet  of  them.  I  did  not  go  back  in  the 
house,  but  went  back  in  the  bushes  where  we  had 
been  staying.  Burrow  waited  until  daylight,  and 
then  came  out  where  I  was. 

The  men  who  had  been  scattered  around  the 
house  were  gone.  I  told  Burrow  I  walked  on 
somebody  out  there.  He  said  he  reckoned  not, 
but  I  insisted  that  I  did,  and  when  Mrs.  Burrow 
brought  us  our  breakfast  we  told  her  about  it. 
She  went  out  and  found  signs.  She  walked  on 
the  other  side  of  the  house,  in  the  lane  where  there 
was  sand,  and  she  said  the  sand  was  all  packed 
with  tracks. 

We  remained  there  until  we  heard  the  men 
coming  back  to  Burrow's,  and  they  were  right  at 
his  house  before  we  got  up  to  walk  off.  We  then 
walked  around  there  through  the  bushes,  about 
three  hundred  yards  from  John  Burrow's  house, 
and  remained  through  the  day.  When  night  came 
we  walked  over  in  another  direction  about  a  mile 
from  John  Burrow's  and  half  a  mile  from  Cash's. 

The  detectives  had  Jim  Cash,  John  Burrow  and 
old  man  Alien  Burrow  in  jail.  Rube  did  not  say 
much  about  it,  only  that  they  were  holding  them, 
thinking  it  would  enable  them  to  get  us,  and  that 
they  would  turn  them  out  in  a  few  days. 

We  then  depended  on  the  women  to  bring  tis 


RtJBB  Btr&ROW.  123 

food.  John  Burrow,  Jim  Cash  and  old  man  Bur- 
row were  turned  out  of  jail  in  two  or  three  days, 
and  we  then  continued  around  in  the  bushes  until 
about  the  latter  part  of  August,  Jim  Cash  bringing 
us  food. 

About  this  time  old  Mrs.  Burrow,  Allen  Bur- 
row's wife,  went  up  a  few  miles  north  to  Crews  to 
see  her  sister.  She  got  word  that  Rube  Smith 
wanted  to  see  Rube  Burrow.  She  came  back  and 
told  Rube  Burrow  about  it,  and  he  decided  that  he 
would  about  as  soon  see  him  as  not ;  at  the  same 
time  he  thought  there  might  be  some  trick  in  it, 
but  in  a  day  or  two  he  got  his  sister  to  go  and  tel] 
Rube  Smith  where  to  meet  him.  The*place  agreed 
on  was  at  the  lower  corner  of  the  graveyard  at  Fel- 
lowship Church.  We  went  there  early  on  the  night 
we  were  to  meet  him.  We  did  not  go  to  the  lower 
corner  of  the  graveyard,  but  went  down  in  the 
bushes  a  piece  further.  I  went  to  sleep  after  be- 
ing there  awhile,  and  Burrow  crawled  up  near  the 
corner  to  see  who  would  come.  He  got  tired  wait- 
ing, and  came  back  to  where  I  was  and  woke  me, 
and  I  had  been  awake  a  few  minutes  when  we 
heard  some  one  walking.  He  crawled  back  as 
quickly  as  he  could  near  the  lower  corner  of  the 
graveyard,  where  we  heard  the  man  walking,  and 
got  over  inside.  He  saw  there  was  only  one  man, 
and  he  spoke  to  him.  They  stayed  there  a  few 
minutes  ;  I  did  not  hear  the  conversation  ;  then  he 
brought  him  up  and  introduced  him  to  me  as  his 


124  RUBE  BURROW. 

friend,  without  giving  any  name,  and  did  not  call 
my  name.  Burrow  told  me  he  had  not  seen  Smith 
since  he  was  a  little  boy.  I  knew  Smith  was  the 
man  we  were  going  to  meet,  because  Rube  Burrow 
had  sent  his  sister  after  him.  We  stayed  there  a 
few  minutes,  and  then  we  all  three  went  back  to 
where  Burrow  and  I  had  been,  in  the  woods  half  a 
mile  from  Cash's. 

We  remained  there  next  day,  and  next  night 
we  went  nearer  Smith's  house.  We  did  not  go  in 
sight  of  the  house.  It  was  about  ten  or  twelve 
miles  from  Cash's.  We  remained  there  two  days. 
Smith  went  after  food  for  us,  but  I  do  not  know 
where  he  got  it.  We  then  went  back  near  Cash's 
again.  Remained  there  one  or  two  days,  when  we 
started  south,  traveling  down  the  Tombigbee  River. 
We  did  not  start  for  any  certain  point  when  we 
started.  Burrow  told  Smith,  just  as  he  told  me, 
how  a  train  could  be  robbed.  Smith  agreed  to  go ; 
said  he  had  no  money,  and  needed  some. 

We  then  traveled  south  to  EUisville,  Miss.,  on 
the  Northeastern  Road.  It  was  concluded  before 
we  got  to  EUisville  that  we  would  rob  a  train  on 
the  Northeastern  Road,  but  Rube  decided  that 
there  was  not  a  great  deal  of  money  on  that  road, 
and  we  would  go  back  over  to  Buckatunna  and  rob 
a  train  there.  I  should  have  said  that  our  route 
to  EUisville  was  via  Buckatunna,  Miss.  After  get- 
ing  to  EUisville  we  decided  not  to  rob  the  North- 
eastern  train,  and  decided  to  go  back  to  Eucka- 


RUBE   BURROW.  1 25 

tunna.  We  traveled  on  the  road  until  we  got 
within  two  or  three  miles  of  Buckatunna.  Waited 
over  one  day  in  a  little  out-house.  We  went  out 
half  a  mile  from  the  house  and  got  some  bread 
cooked  at  a  white  man's  house.  I  went  to  get 
the  bread  cooked,  and  made  the  bargain  for'ij,  and 
Smith  went  after  the  bread  when  it  was  cooked. 

On  the  evening  previous  to  the  robbery  I  went 
to  Buckatunna  and  got  a  piece  of  meat  and  went 
back  to  the  camp.  Saw  a  negro  in  the  out-house 
where  we  were  staying,  but  did  not  talk  to  him. 
When  dark  came  on  we  left  the  house  and  went 
through  Buckatunna ;  don't  remember  how  far  we 
went  below  Buckatunna,  but  we  went  to  where  the 
trestle  was*  We  remained  there  that  night  until 
the  north-bound  train  passed.  Then  Burrow  and 
Smith  went  to  Buckatunna.  Burrow  asked  which 
one  was  going  with  him.  I  do  not  remember  just 
what  was  said,  but  he  told  Smith  to  go  with  him, 
and  I  remained  there  until  they  came  down  with 
the  train.  The  train  stopped  right  where  I  was 
sitting,  at  the  end  of  the  cross-tie.  I  then  said  to 
Burrow,  "You  had  better  bring  out  the  pick  with 
you."  Burrow  had  told  me  how  they  had  picked 
the  door  open  when  the  express  messenger  refused 
to  open  it,  and  they  did  that  rather  than  fire  the 
express  car.  They  brought  the  pick  out,  when 
Smith,  the  fireman  and  engineer  got  off  the  engine. 
Burrow  remained  on  the  engine  two  or  three  min- 
utes, or  got  off  on  the  other  side,  I  don't  know 


126  RUBE   BtTRROW. 

which.  They  then  came  back  to  the  express  car. 
Burrow  took  a  position  in  front  of  the  door  of  the 
express  car  and  told  the  express  messenger  to  open 
the  door;  that  if  he  attempted  to  move  away  with- 
out opening  it  he  would  shoot  him.  It  was  a 
barred  door  that  Burrow  wanted  opened.  The 
messenger  opened  the  door  and  Burrow  went  in. 
What  words  were  passed  as  he  was  going  in,  or 
after  he  was  in,  I  do  not  know.  I  remained  there 
with  the  fireman  and  engineer.  Smith  walked 
back  towards  the  passenger  coach  a  few  steps. 
The  conductor,  or  some  one,  came  to  the  door  of 
the  passenger  coach  and  asked  what  we  were  do- 
ing— I  suppose  two  or  three  times.  I  fired  ofi"  my 
pistol  in  the  air.  Some  one — I  suppose  it  was 
Smith  —  fired  his  pistol  oflf  also.  Burrow  got 
through  in  the  express  car  and  came  out.  He  told 
the  engineer  to  pull  the  train  up  until  the  mail  car 
was  off  the  trestle.  The  engineer  said  he  did  not 
know  whether  he  could  move  it  until  he  got  up 
more  steam,  but  he  believed  the  mail  car  was  al- 
ready oflf  the  trestle.  Burrow  stepped  back  and 
asked  the  mail  agent  to  open  the  door,  which  he 
did.  He  then  got  up  in  the  mail  car.  What  was 
said  or  done  in  there  I  do  not  know.  He  came  out 
and  said  he  had  the  mail. 

The  engineer  said  he  would  have  to  get  up 
more  steam  before  he  could  move  the  train,  as  he 
had  on  extra  coaches  that  night.  It  took  him  a 
few  minutes  to  get  up  steam,  and  we  remaiiied 


RUBS   BURROW.  .  127 

there  with  him  until  he  pulled  out.  We  were  all 
close  to  the  engine,  and  there  was  some  talking 
carried  on,  but  I  don't  remember  what  was  said. 

After  the  train  pulled  out  we  went  off  in  an 
easterly  direction ;  got  out  a  short  distance  and 
took  the  covers  off  the  money,  in  order  to  get  rid 
of  the  weight,  piled  them  up  and  set  fire  to  them. 
Did  not  divide  the  money  then.  The  greenbacks 
were  put  in 'a  sack;  don't  remember  who  had  it; 
believe  Burrow  took  the  sack,  and  we  divided  the 
silver  to  make  it  lighter  for  each  one.  Some  time 
that  day  we  divided  the  money.  We  then  trav- 
eled in  an  easterly  direction  until  we  crossed  the 
Tombigbee  River.  I  think  each  of  us  got  $1,150, 
making  in  all  about  $3,450.  After  crossing  the 
Tombigbee  River  we  turned  north,  traveling  up 
the  river  until  we  got  to  Demopolis,  Ala.  There, 
after  resting  in  the  bottom  a  couple  of  days,  on 
Monday  morning  Smith  took  the  train,  either  for 
Montgomery  or  Birmingham  (I  can  not  say 
which),  stating  he  was  going  back  to  Lamar 
County.  Burrow  told  him  particularly  to  be  cau- 
tious and  not  to  show  his  money.  I  have  not  seen 
Smith  from  that  day  to  this. 

Burrow  and  myself  then  kept  on  north  until 
we  got  to  Lamar  County,  traveling  on  foot  through 
the  woods  part  of  the  time,  and  in  the  road  part  of 
the  time.  Traveled  mostly  by  day  from  Demop- 
olis. Arrived  at  old  man  Burrow's  some  time  in 
the  night,  and  remained  there  a  few  days  until  we 


128  .    RUBE   BURROW. 

rested  up.  The  night  we  got  there  we  did  not 
sleep  at  all,  but  stayed  on  the  ground  until  nearly 
day,  when  we  went  into  old  man  Burrow's  barn,  up 
in  the  loft.  Some  of  them  came  out  to  the  barn 
in  the  morning,  and  we  made  our  presence  known. 
We  remained  in  the  barn  a  couple  of  weeks  ;  then 
we  went  up  near  Cash's  and  remained  there  for  a 
week,  he  bringing  our  food  to  us. 

We  then  went  back  to  old  man  Allen  Bur- 
row's ;  remained  there  a  few  days,  and  decided  to 
go  down  the  country  on  a  wagon.  We  were  tired 
of  having  to  lie  out  in  the  bushes,  and  made  up 
our  minds  to  go  south,  after  discussing  the  matter. 
I  proposed  buying  a  horse  ;  Burrow  said  he  did  not 
want  to  go  that  way;  he  would  rather  take  an  ox- 
wagon  and  go.  We  concluded  at  one  time  to  walk, 
and  got  as  far  as  Columbus,  Miss.,  or  within  a  mile 
or  two  of  that  place,  and  there  Burrow  said  if  we 
went  back  he  would  buy  a  team,  and  that  if  I 
would  go  with  him  with  the  team  he  would  pay 
my  expenses.  He  offered  to  pay  my  expenses  be- 
cause I  did  not  want  to  go  on  the  ox-cart.  I  de- 
cided to  go  back  with  him,  but  it  was  against  ray 
will. 

We  went  back  to  Lamar  County,  to  old  man 
Burrow's  house,  and  Rube  Burrow  bought  a  team 
of  oxen  and  a  wagon.  Jim  Cash  carried  the  team 
to  Columbus,  Miss.  Burrow  and  myself  went  to 
Columbus  with  Allen  Burrow  in  a  covered  wagon. 
We  got  out  of  the  wagon  within  a  few  mii'SS  of 


RUBE   BURROW.  1 29 

Columbus  and  old  man  Burrow  went  on  to  town. 
We  waited  awhile  and  then  went  into  the  city,  it 
being  about  dark  when  we  got  there.  We  then 
took  the  team  and  drove  over  about  three  or  four 
miles  east  of  Columbus  and  camped  for  the  night. 
Next  day  we  hitched  up  and  drove  on;  camped 
when  night  came  on,  and  drove  in  the  day-time 
until  we  got  to  Flomaton,  Ala.,  arriving  there  on 
the  14th  of  December,  1889. 

I  concluded  I  would  not  go  into  Florida  with 
Burrow,  but  would  go  to  Louisiana.  I  boarded 
the  train  at  Flomaton  for  New  Orleans,  where  I 
took  the  Texas  Pacific  Railway  next  day  for  the 
home  of  my  uncle,  J.  T.  Harrell,  at  Pleasant  Hill, 
Sabine  Parish,  La.  Pie  is  a  well-to-do  merchant 
there,  and  is  the  brother  of  my  mother.  I  had  not 
seen  him  since  my  boyhood,  and  he  knew  nothing 
of  my  connection  with  Rube  Burrow.  I  repre- 
sented to  him  that  I  had  been  in  the  cattle  busi- 
ness in  Texas.  I  remained  there  till  about  the 
15th  of  February.  I  passed  the  time  pleasantly, 
visiting  in  the  town  the  friends  and  neighbors  of 
my  uncle. 

When  Rube  Burrow  and  I  separated  at  Flo- 
maton, Ala.,  we  were  to  meet  on  the  20th  of  Feb- 
ruary at  what  we  supposed  was  a  station  called 
Dyers,  a  few  miles  east  of  Mobile,  on  the  L.  &  N. 
Road.  When  I  went  there  on  February  20th  I 
found  there  was  nothing  there  but  a  switch.  I 
failed  to  meet  Burrow,  and  went  back  to  Mobile 


130  rub:e  burrow. 

and  to  New  Orleans;  did  not  stay  at  New  Orleans; 
got  there  in  the  morning  and  left  that  night,  going 
back  to  Mobile.  Remained  there  a  few  days  and 
then  went  to  Scranton  and  remained  there  one  day. 
I  then  went  back  to  Mobile.  I  walked  to  Scranton ; 
took  me  several  days,  and  did  not  stay  there,  but 
came  back  to  Mobile.  Was  sick  at  Mobile  with 
measles  two  or  three  days.  Remained  at  Mobile 
until  the  middle  of  March,  when  I  left  and  went  to 
Meridian.  Stayed  there  until  the  first  of  April. 
Then  went  to  Demopolis,  and  came  back  to  Merid- 
ian shortly.  Made  a  trip  to  Vicksburg;  stayed 
there  two  weeks.  Went  back  to  Meridian  and 
stayed  there  until  the  latter  part  of  April,  and 
then  decided  I  would  go  back  into  Lamar  County, 
Ala.  I  got  a  ticket  from  Meridian  to  Columbus; 
at  Columbus  I  got  off  the  train  and  walked  to 
Allen  Burrow's;  got  there  in  the  night  and  went 
up  in  the  barn  and  went  to  sleep.  That  was  the 
latter  part  of  April  or  first  of  May,  1890.  The  first 
person  I  met  was  Mrs.  Burrow,  who  came  out  to 
the  barn ;  she  asked  where  Rube  Burrow  was ;  told 
her  I  did  not  know  where  he  was;  had  not  seen 
him  since  before  Christmas.  First  heard  them 
talking  about  getting  after  Burrow  in  Florida, 
when  I  went  to  Dyer  to  meet  him.  Mrs.  Burrow 
did  not  know  anything  about  this;  asked  me  if  I 
knew  when  he  would  come ;  I  told  her  I  did  not 
knov/.  Remained  in  the  barn  that  day;  that  night 
I  went  in  the  house.     Went  up  in  the  loft  at  Allei] 


RUBE   BURROW.  I3I 

Burrow's  house;  they  put  bedclothes  there  and 
handed  me  food  up  in  the  loft.  Stayed  there 
during  the  day  all  the  time,  from  about  the  first  of 
May  until  last  Tuesday,  July  15th.  Came  down 
at  night;  did  not  go  anywhere  at  all;  talked  with 
old  man  Burrow  very  little. 

When  Rube  Burrow  and  I  agreed  to  meet  at 
Dyer  Station,  on  the  h>  &  N.  Road,  it  was  for  the 
purpose  of  robbing  a  train  on  the  Louisville  and 
Nashville  Railway.  He  said  if  we  did  not  meet 
on  the  20th  of  February  at  Dyer  Station,  that  we 
would  meet  early  in  the  fall  in  Lamar  County ; 
think  he  said  about  September  ist.  Waited  for 
him  at  Dyer  one  day,  February  20th,  as  agreed,  but 
he  did  not  come.  I  heard,  while  at  Bay  Minette, 
that  the  detectives  had  routed  Rube  in  Florida, 
and  therefore  did  not  much  expect  to  meet  him 
as  agreed. 

I  left  old  man  Burrow's  last  Tuesday  night  on 
his  mule,  having  made  arrangements  with  Cash  to 
meet  me,  and  Cash  was  to  take  me  to  Fernbank, 
Ala.  I  borrowed  $25  from  Cash.  He  carried  me 
within  five  or  six  miles  of  Fernbank  and  turned 
back.  I  gave  him  my  pistol,  because  I  did  not 
intend  to  ever  use  another  pistol.  I  felt  bad,  and 
said  very  little  to  Cash.  When  we  separated  he 
asked  me  when  I  was  coming  back.  I  said  I  reck- 
oned I  might  be  back  in  the  fall.  He  did  not 
seem  to  be  anxious  about  Rube,  and  said  nothing 
about  him. 


132  RUBE   BURROW. 

Rube  Burrow  never  talked  with  me  about  any- 
particular  robbery  he  was  engaged  in,  except  at 
Genoa,  Ark.  He  did  tell  me  he  was  in  that  rob- 
bery, and  indirectly  mentioned  the  Gordon  and 
Ben  Brook,  Texas,  robberies,  giving  me  to  un- 
derstand he  was  in  those  robberies  also. 

I  have  heard  Rube  Burrow  say  that  if  he  vras 
out  of  trouble,  or  if  he  was  where  he  could  quit 
robbing  trains,  that  he  would  stop  it.  He  thinks 
a  great  deal  of  his  children,  and  is  anxious  to  have 
them  educated,  and  spoke  of  coming  back  to  Lamar 
County  in  the   spring  to  see  if  they  were  at  school. 

When  I  started  from  Allen  Burrow's  on  the 
15th  of  July  I  intended  to  go  to  Columbus,  Miss., 
and  from  there  to  some  point  in  Kentucky,  and  in- 
tended to  quit  train  robbing.  That  is  why  I  gave 
away  my  pistols. 

We  got  in  the  Duck  Hill  robbery  about  $1,500 
in  greenbacks,  and  about  $250  in  silver.  This  we 
divided,  each  taking  half.  We  did  not  rob  the 
mail  at  Duck  Hill.  Burrow  wanted  to  do  it,  but  I 
would  not  agree  to  it.  Burrow  insisted  on  robbing 
the  mail  at  Buckatunna,  but  Smith  and  I  protested 
against  it.  Burrow  said,  "  If  we  can  get  away  with 
one,  v/e  can  get  away  with  the  other;  and  if  we 
are  taken  for  one  offense,  we  will  be  taken  for  the 
other,"  and  insisted  on  robbing  the  mail,  and  car- 
ried out  his  view. 

My  opinion  about  Rube  Burrow  is  about  as  fol- 
lows :    I  have  often  heard  him  say  that  if  the  de- 


RtJBE  BURROW.  133 

tectives  crowded  him  tliat  lie  would  kill  them,  or 
he  would  shoot  his  way  out  if  they  did  not  kill 
him.  He  said  it  would  be  a  life  and  death  fight. 
I  have  heard  him  say  more  than  once  that  if  he 
could  get  a  large  lot  of  money  he  would  leave 
enough  at  home  to  take  care  of  his  children,  and 
then,  if  he  could,  would  go  off  where  he  would  not 
be  bothered,  and  lead  a  quiet  life. 

Am  pretty  well  satisfied  he  will  come  back  to 
Lamar  County  about  September  ist,  becaiise  he 
said  he  would  do  so. 

At  one  time,  while  in  the  cattle  business  at 
Fort  Worth,  Texas,  I  had  an  encounter  with  a  man 
who  was  a  bully,  and  who  was  cutting  up  one  day, 
and  in  an  insulting  manner  ordered  me  out  of  his 
way.  I  stepped  out  of  his  way,  but  he  kept  an- 
noying me,  and  I  at  last  decided  I  did  not  want 
any  more  of  his  talk,  and  told  him  so.  He  then 
cursed  me,  and  I  cursed  him  also,  and  he  drew  a 
knife.  I  had  a  pistol,  and  walked  up  to  him  and 
struck  him  on  the  arm,  knocking  the  knife  out  of 
his  hand,  and  then  knocked  him  down.  Burrow 
witnessed  the  affair,  and  this  was  probably  the 
reason  he  chose  me  to  help  him  in  his  train  rob' 
beries. 

I  was  never  in  a  train  robbery  with  Burrow  in 
Texas,  and  he  never  mentioned  that  he  had  en- 
gaged in  train  robbing  in  that  State,  except  indi- 
rectly, as  I  have  stated. 

When  we  started  on  the  Arkansas  trip  I  had 


134  RtJBE  BURROW. 

one  Colt's  forty-five  caliber  pistol.  Burrow  had 
two  forty-five  caliber  pistols.  Had  no  rifle.  These 
were  the  arms  we  used  in  the  Duck  Hill  robbery, 
and,  as  far  as  I  know.  Rube  Burrow  now  has  these 
same  pistols.  They  are  not  double,  but  single 
action  pistols.  Burrow  got  from  Connecticut  a 
Marlin  rifle,  thirty-eight  caliber,  in  April,  1889. 
It  holds  fourteen  or  fifteen  cartridges. 

At  Duck  Hill  we  tied  our  pocket  hankerchiefs, 
such  as  we  used  daily,  around  our  faces,  just  before 
we  boarded  the  engine.  I  do  not  remember  the 
color  of  the  handkerchiefs.  At  Buckatunna  I  tied 
my  handkerchief  on  just  before  the  train  stopped. 
Burrow  and  Smith  had  theirs  on  when  the  train 
stopped,  and  I  suppose  put  them  on  before  they 
boarded  the  train  at  Buckatunna. 

(Signed)  L.  C.  Brock,  alias  JoE  Jackson. 

The  foregoing  statement  being  read  in  the 
presence  of  L.  C.  Brock,  and  he  having  stated  that 
the  same  is  correct,  we,  the  undersigned,  do  hereby 
certify  to  the  same,  and  agree  that  while  Reuben 
Burrow  is  alive  the  statement  will  not  be  made 
public.  G.  W.  Agee, 

T.  V.  Jackson, 
V.  Dell. 

The  statement  made  by  a  so-called  detective. 
Stout,  in  a  publication  issued  by  him,  that  Rube 
Burrow  was  on  the  train  at  the  time  of  Jackson's 


RUBE   BURROW.  I35 

capture,  dressed  in  female  apparel,  and  escaped, 
like  many  other  accounts  in  that  volume,  is  a  silly 
fabrication. 

Joe  Jackson  was  brought  to  Memphis  and  quar- 
tered in  the  building  of  the  Southern  Express 
Company,  on  North  Court  Street,  for  several  days. 
He  was  confronted  with  the  evidence  of  his  crimes 
by  the  express  officials.  The  chain  of  testimony 
which  had  been  riveted  about  him,  from  the  day 
he  joined  Burrow,  was  unfolded  to  him  link  by 
link,  and  he  was  told  to  choose  between  a  trial 
for  the  Duck  Hill  aSair,  in  which  the  penalty  was 
hanging,  for  the  murder  of  Chester  Hughes,  and 
that  of  Buckatunna,  where  the  penalty  was  im- 
prisonment for  life.  For  two  days  Joe  held  out, 
still  denying  the  crimes  charged,  but,  finally,  on 
the  morning  of  the  third  day,  when  he  found  he 
was  to  be  taken  to  Duck  Hill,  he  agreed  to  give 
a  full  statement  of  his  participation  in  the  Duck 
Hill  and  Buckatunna  robberies,  and  to  narrate  the 
story  of  the  movements  of  Rube  Burrow  and  him- 
self from  the  day  they  first  met  until  they  sepa- 
rated in  December,  1889.  ^^^  ^^^^  stipulation 
was  that  his  confession  should  not  be  made  public 
while  Rube  Burrow  lived,  a  promise  which  was 
faithfully  kept  by  the  express  officials,  satisfied, 
as  they  were,  that  the  knowledge  they  possessed 
would  soon  enable  them  to  capture  Rube  Burrow, 
then  the  last  member  of  his  band  at  liberty. 


136  RUBB   BURROW. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

RUBE     smith's     plot     TO    ESCAPE     FROM     PRISON  —  HIS 
PLANS    DISCOVERED — THE    TELL-TALE    LETTERS. 

T3  UBE  SMITH,  having  been  sentenced  to  ten 
"""^  years'  imprisonment,  was,  therefore,  a  convict 
in  the  state-prison  when  Brock,  alias  Jackson,  was 
carried  there  on  July  21st  for  safe  keeping.  Smith 
was  at  work  in  the  prison  shop  when  Brock  was 
taken  within  the  gates  and  given  a  seat  in  the 
prison-yard,  about  thirty  feet  from  the  shop  win- 
dow. An  official  of  the  Southern  Express  Com- 
pany, with  Detective  Jackson,  approached  Rube 
and  said : 

"Well,  Rube,  we  have  Joe  Jackson." 

Smith  had  not  heard  of  the  capture,  and  was 
evidently  somewhat  embarrassed  at  the  announce- 
ment.    Quickly  rallying,  however,  he  answered : 

"  I  don't  know  Joe  Jackson — never  saw  him  in 
my  life." 

"Come  with  me  to  the  window,"  said  the  offi- 
cial. 

Rube  walked  over  to  the  window,  and  Joe  being 
pointed  out.  Rube  said  : 

"No,  sir,  I  never  saw  that  man  before." 

On  being  told  he  was  Rube  Burrow's  partner, 
Smith  repeated  what  he  was  often  wont  to  say : 


rub:B  burrow.        ,  137 

"I  have  not  seen  Rube  Burrow  since  I  was  a 
small  boy,"  and  again  he  denied  his  guilt. 

"Ah,"  said  the  official,  "We  have  new  evidence 
against  you,  Rube.  We  know  that  Mrs.  Allen  Bur- 
row visited  your  father's,  and  through  her  you  sent 
a  message  to  Rube  Burrow  that  you  wanted  to  see 
him ;  and  we  know  that  Ann  Eliza  brought  the 
answer  from  Rube  that  he  would  meet  you  in  Fel- 
lowship church-yard.  We  know  just  where  you 
met  before  the  robbery,  and  we  know  you  parted 
at  Demopolis,  Ala.,  after  the  work  was  done." 

This  information,  which  v/as  literally  true,  was 
adroitly  given  Rube  for  a  purpose,  and  convinced 
him  that  the  coils  were  tightening,  and  that  addi- 
tional evidence  had,  indeed,  been  secured. 

Rube  Smith,  though  not  as  old  in  crime  as  his 
copartners,  was  not  a  whit  less  bold  and  desperate. 
While  in  jail  at  Meridian,  pending  his  trial  at 
Waynesboro,  he  had  been  discovered  in  a  plot  to 
kill  the  jailer  and  liberate  himself  and  others.  He 
had  not  been  at  Jackson  thirty  days  before  it  was 
developed  that  he  was  scheming  to  make  his  es- 
cape, and  for  this  offense  he  then  wore  a  heavy  ball 
and  chain.  Bold  and  unscrupulous,  he  was  ready 
to  take  the  life  of  any  man  who  stood  between  him 
and  liberty.  He  was,  however,  very  secretive  and 
self-possessed,  and  up  to  this  time  he  had  not,  from 
the  day  of  his  arrest,  spoken  a  word  which  could 
be  used  as  evidence  against  him. 

Jeff.  Moody,  a  convict  from  Itawamba  County, 


I3«  RUBE   BURROW. 

was  on  tlie  eve  of  being  liberated,  Having  served 
his  time.  Smith,  in  his  desperation,  sought  Moody 
as  a  medium  through  which  to  communicate  with 
friends  on  the  outside,  through  whose  aid  he  hoped 
to  make  his  escape.  After  cautiously  canvassing 
the  matter,  Smith  unfolded  to  Moody  his  plan  of 
escape,  commissioning  him  to  take  letters  to  his 
father,  who  was  requested  to  buy  pistols,  which 
Moody  was  to  bring  to  the  prison ;  and  as  all  the 
guards  were  withdrawn  from  the  walls  of  the 
prison  at  night,  under  Moody's  guidance  Jim  Bar- 
ker was  to  scale  the  walls  and  hide  the  pistols  in 
a  drawer  of  Smith's  work-bench,  and  at  the  tap 
of  the  six  o'clock  bell  the  succeeding  night,  after 
the  guards  had  been  called  in,  and  while  the  pris- 
oners were  being  conducted  to  their  cells.  Smith 
expected  to  furnish  Brock,  and  a  fellow  convict 
who  had  been  taken  into  the  scheme,  a  pistol 
each.  The  inside  guards  were  to  be  "held  up"  and 
disarmed,  after  the  fashion  of  train  robbers,  and 
thereby  they  would  eflfect  their  escape.  As  the  let- 
ters show  clearly  the  bold,  bad  character  of  the 
man,  they  are  herewith  given  literally : 

Aug.  the  24,  1890. 
Dear  Father : 

I  seat  my  sef  to  rite  you  a  few  lines  to  let  you  no  what 
I  want  you  to  do  for  me.  James  cash  has  told  all  he  noes, 
they  are  a  going  to  use  him  fore  a  wittness  against  me — he 
sot  the  trap  to  cetch  Jackson,  they  have  got  him  heare 
now.  Agee  told  me  all  a  bout  Miss  Burrow  &  Anlizer  a 
coming  up  thaire.     He  told   me  rite  where  wee  got  to 


RUBE  BURROW.  139 

fether  at  &  where  I  left  them  at,  som"  body  has  told  them 
that  noes  somthing.  Jackson  ses  he  hant  told  them  noth- 
ing, he  ses  his  name  is  not  Jackson,  it  is  Winslow.  He 
told  me  that  James  cash  set  the  trap  for  him  he  sed  that 
no  body  node  he  was  coming  but  Cash,  so  it  look  very  darke 
for  me  theay  have  got  all  under  holt  now  everything  is  a 
working  aginst  me  heare  but  if  you  will  doo  what  I  want 
you  to  do  I  will  leave  them  the  Bag  to  hold  themselves.  I 
mean  just  what  I  say  and  nothing  elce.  Now  I  will  begin 
to  tell  you  what  it  is  so  look  on  the  other  side.  I  want 
you  to  see  that  I  get  what  I  want.  I  want  you  to  send  me 
three  good  Pistols,  thay  will  cost  a  bout  $15  a  peace  but 
you  be  shore  to  get  them  I  want  them  to  bee  45  calibw 
I  want  the  Best  ingraned  Smith  &  wesson  or  colt's,  one  or 
the  other,  I  want  you  to  get  Uncle  James  Barker  to  cum 
with  this  man  to  bring  them  to  me  he  noes  just  how  to 
get  them  to  me  If  I  had  them  I  can  get  a  way  without 
having  to  fire  a  shot  I  no  Just  what  I  am  talking  a  bout 
now.  thay  are  goin  to  send  me  up  salt  creak  if  they  can. 
this  is  all  the  chance  for  me  and  I  no  it  &  if  you  dont  d|o 
something  now  I  am  going  to  give  the  gards  a  faire  shot 
at  me — if  theay  kill  me  all  rite  &  if  they  miss  me  all  rite 
but  if  you  will  do  what  I  want  you  to  do  theay  wont  jbee 
eny  Danger  of  geting  hurt  for  i  can  make  them  turn  me 
rite  out^without  eny  truble.  Reuben  Smith. 

August  the  24  1890. 
Pear   father : 

I  seat  myself  to  rite  you  a  few  lines  to  let  you  no 

that  I  am  well  at  this  time  hoping  those  few  lines  may  find 

you  the  same.     I  have  no  news  to  rite  onley  times  is  mity 

hard  here.     My  Dear  father  as  I  state  in  my  other  note 

what  I  want  5'ou  to  do  fore  me  I  do  emestly  pray  that  you 

will  doo  it.    You  know  that  I  would  not  reckment  a  man 

to  you  that  I  thought  would  get  you  in  truble.     I  have 

bin  with  Mr.  Mo(Kly  for  sotne  time    he  has  proved  to  bee  a 


140  RUBE   BURROW. 

friend  too  me  so  faire  he  has  bin  heare  for  three  years 
he  noes  the  triels  and  trubles  of  this  place  he  is  not  in 
very  good  helth  as  you  will  see.  I  want  you  to  give  him 
as  good  treatment  as  you  can  for  he  deserves  it,  as  you  will 
have  to  pay  all  the  expences  a  bout  this  matter  when  he 
has  done  thease  matters  I  want  you  to  see  him  home  all 
rite  so  I  will  close  hoping  success  to  all.  Yours  truley, 
from  Reuben  Smith  to  Mr.  James  Smith,  in  ceare  of  a 
friend. 

My  Dear  father : 

I  seat  myself  to  rite  you  a  few  lines  to  let  you  know 
that  I  am  well.  I  have  lemt  a  good  eal  a  bout  what  theay 
Aim  to  do,  theay  aim  to  use  James  cash  as  a  witness  a 
gainst  me  and  sum  of  uncle  alien  Burrow's  folks.  Now 
heare  is  a  man  that  has  bin  heare  serving  his  three  years 
in  the  penitenchery  and  after  his  time  was  out  theay  warnt 
willing  to  turn  him  loos  thin,  he  is  a  good  man  &  I  think 
he  is  all  rite.  I  want  you  to  treat  this  man  rite  &  g^ve 
him  Plenty  to  eat  and  when  he  Brings  me  my  things  then 
I  want  you  to  fix  him  up  all  rite.  I  want  you  to  get  uncle 
Jim  to  cum  with  him  heare  you  will  have  to  beare  his 
expences  heare  and  back  it  will  be  easy  done  he  can  get 
me  eny  thing  that  I  want  and  he  wont  bee  in  any  danger 
hardly  at  all  he  noes  where  to  put  them  for  me  &  every- 
thing will  Bee  in  a  nut  shell.  Bring  me  a  bout  20  dollars 
in  money  &  put  it  with  the  pistols  I  want  good  pistols. 
I  want  sum  like  the  one  that  I  had  if  you  can  get  them  of 
that  cind.  I  want  the .  45  caliber  be  shore  and  get  me 
plenty  of  catriges  He  can  tell  you  all  a  bout  me  I  dont 
think  he  will  tell  you  a  ly  to  get  the  advantage  of  you  I 
have  watch  him  close  evrj'  since  I  have  bin  heare  i  think 
he  will  doo  what  he  ses  he  will  do.  he  has  got  a  family  at 
horn  a  looking  for  him  &  after  he  dos  what  he  can  for  me  I 
want  you  to  see  him  hom  all  rite,  he  can  tell  you  how 
everything  is  heare  and  how  me  &  him  has  got  it  fixt  up. 


RUBE   BURROW.  I4I 

it  will  liaft  to  bee  don  after  dark.     Dont  fail  to  Do  this  for 
I  no  it  is  all  the  chance  for  me     if  you  let  this  chance  pass 
yoit  may  never  get  a  nother  as  good  as  this     so  I  feel  that 
my  hold  life  is  in  your  hands    dont  fail  whatever. 
Yours  truley, 

Reuben  Smith. 

Moody  had  disclosed  to  the  prison  officials  the 
proposition  of  Smith  to  send  these  letters  out  by 
him,  and  had  been  instructed  to  humor  the  plot. 
Meantime  the  express  officials  had  been  notified 
of  Moody's  disclosures,  and  of  the  date  he  would 
be  released,  and  the  letters  were  thus  secured  and 
made  important  links  in  the  chain  of  evidence 
against  Smith. 


i42  RUBE   BURROW. 


CHAPTER  XVIIL 

RUBS    BURROW    HARBORED    IN    SANTA    ROSA  —  THE    PLO- 
MATON    ROBBERY. 

OANTA  ROSA  COUNTY,  in  which  Rube  sought 
^  refuge  from  the  unflagging  pursuit  of  the  de- 
tectives, is  one  of  the  northwestern  counties  of 
Florida,  its  northern  boundary  being  the  Alabama 
line.  Escambia  River,  whose  blue  waters  are  dot- 
ted with  numerous  islets,  marks  its  western  limits, 
and  flowing  onward  into  Pensacola  Bay,  interlocks 
the  many  inlets  and  lakes  that  indent  its  shores. 

Santa  Rosa  Island,  stretching  itself  along  its 
whole  southern  border,  in  the  white-crested  waters 
of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  seems  to  stand  as  a  sentry  to 
guard  its  serf-beaten  coast.  The  county  is  more 
than  half  the  size  of  the  State  of  Delaware.  It 
embraces  1,260  square  miles  of  territory,  and  has  a 
population  of  only  7,500,  or  about  six  persons  to 
every  square  mile,  and  the  major  portion  of  this 
population  is  confined  to  Milton,  the  county  seat, 
and  other  towns  lying  along  the  Pensacola  and  At- 
lantic Railway. 

Yellow,  East  Bay,  Juniper  and  Blackwater  Riv- 
ers all  find  their  channels  to  the  estuaries  of  the 
Gulf  through  Santa  Rosa.     In  this  isolated  and 


RUBS   BURROW.  I43 

uninhabited  district,  amid  the  hooting  of  owls,  the 
hissing  of  reptiles,  and  the  snarling  of  wild  beasts, 
as  ever  and  anon  they  were  startled  from  their  dark 
coverts,  Detective  Jackson  quietly  but  persistently 
followed  the  outlaw. 

On  February  15th,  about  twenty  miles  north  of 
Broxton's  ferry,  Jackson  found  Rube's  trail,  and 
reaching  a  landing  on  Yellow  River,  ascertained 
that  a  boy  had  taken  him  across  about  one  hour 
before  his  arrival.  Learning  that  the  boy  had 
been  instructed  to  pull  the  boat  half  a  mile  down 
stream  before  landing  on  the  opposite  shore,  Jack- 
son, being  afoot  and  finding  no  other  boat  could  be 
secured,  swam  the  stream,  and  making  his  way, 
with  g^eat  difficulty,  through  the  canebrake,  down 
the  river's  bank,  found,  on  meeting  the  boy,  that 
Rube  was  only  half  an  hour  ahead  of  him. 

Pushing  forward,  he  pursued  the  trail,  though 
without  result,  until  darkness  compelled  him  to 
abandon  it  and  shelter  himself,  as  best  he  could,  in 
the  marshy  bottoms  of  Yellow  River. 

Some  weeks  after  this  the  outlaw  was  located 
in  the  vicinity  of  East  Bay,  about  four  miles  from 
the  Gulf  coast,  in  one  of  the  wildest  of  Florida's 
jungles.  Here  lived  Charles  Wells,  with  his  two 
sons  and  two  daughters,  in  a  dilapidated  cabin, 
whose  roof  was  thatched  with  cane  from  the  brake 
not  twenty  paces  distant.  Wells  bore  a  very  un- 
savory reputation  throughout  all  that  section,  and 
was  known  to  harbor  criminals  of  every  class  and 


144  RUBE  BURROW. 

type.  His  fealty  to  the  criminal  classes  who 
sought  refuge  in  the  wilds  of  Santa  Rosa  had  been 
tested  full  many  a  time,  and  Rube  was  not  long  in 
ascertaining  that  in  the  person  of  Wells  he  would 
find  a  friend,  whose  dark  record  of  crime  gave  am- 
ple surety  of  his  zeal  in  the  cause  of  lawlessness. 
In  this  secluded  spot  Rube  found  shelter  during 
the  spring  and  summer  of  1890,  never  venturing, 
at  any  time,  however,  to  trust  himself  in  the  cabin 
of  Wells.  He  lived  in  the  ca-nebrakes  like  a  beast, 
and  defied  the  most  vigilant  efforts  of  the  detect- 
ives to  dislodge  him. 

Meantime  Detective  Jackson  was  withdrawn 
from  Florida  early  in  July  to  look  after  Brock, 
alias  Jackson,  and  his  capture  having  been  effected 
the  detective  returned  about  August  ist  to  Florida, 
to  renew  his  pursuit  of  Rube. 

While  searching  the  swamps  of  Sanla  Rosa, 
Detective  Jackson  learned  that  Rube  claimed  to 
know  one  John  Barnes,  of  Baldwin  County,  Ala., 
and  the  information  that  Barnes  had  taught  him 
how  to  saw  logs  was  confirmed  by  the  confession 
of  Brock  that  Barnes  was  a  laborer  in  the  camp  on 
Lovette's  creek,  where  all  three  of  the  men  had 
worked  in  March,  1888.  With  some  difficulty  the 
detective  found  Barnes,  who  lived  on  a  small  farm 
about  twelve  miles  from  Castleberry,  Ala.  Barnes 
soon  convinced  Jatkson  that  the  man  known  to 
him  as  Ward  was  Rube  Burrow.  Barnes  was  se- 
lected to  go  into  Santa  Rosa  County  and  tcdeavor 


RUBE   BURROW.  I45 

to  toll  the  outlaw  from  his  hiding  place,  or  else 
definitely  locate  him,  and  thus  enable  the  detect- 
ives to  capture  him.  Barnes  was  peculiarly  fitted 
for  the  task.  The  Indian  blood  that  coursed 
through  his  veins  gave  him  both  nerve  and  cun- 
ning. He  was  a  native  of  Santa  Rosa,  and,  as  boy 
and  man,  had  traversed  fen  and  swamp  till  he 
knew  every  bear  trail  and  deer  stand  in  that  en- 
tire section. 

About  August  20th  Barnes  went  into  Santa 
Rosa  County  to  make  a  reconnaissance^  and  in  a 
few  days  visited  Wells,  to  whom  he  was  well 
known.  Barnes  intimated  to  Wells  that  he  ex- 
pected to  leave  Alabama  and  settle  in  Santa  Rosa 
County,  and  fortunately  for  his  plans  Wells  sug- 
gested a  copartnership  between  Burrow  and  Barnes, 
to  which  the  latter,  feigning  reluctance,  finally  con- 
sented. Barnes  remained  long  enough  at  Wells' 
cabin  to  receive  a  message  from  Rube  that  he 
would  meet  him  on  Sunday,  August  31st,  in  that 
vicinity.  Barnes  returned  to  his  father's  home, 
about  eighteen  miles  distant,  and  reported  the 
result  to  Jackson,  who  was  enjoying  the  quiet  of 
camp  life,  within  easy  reach  of  the  home  of  the 
elder  Barnes.  Why  Rube  should  postpone  the 
meeting  for  a  week  and  enjoin  Barnes,  as  he  did 
through  Wells,  to  return,  was  a  mystery.  Upon 
Barnes'  return  to  Wells,  as  appointed,  he  was  ad- 
vised that  Rube  had  declined  the  proffered  part- 
nership and  would  not  see  him.     Rube  knew  the 


146'  RUBE   BURROW. 

detectives  were  in  Santa  Rosa,  and  shrewdly  sus- 
pecting that  Barnes  was  being  used  to  entrap  him 
lie  refused  all  alliance  with  him. 

While  Barnes  was  vainly  endeavoring  to  nego- 
tiate a  copartnership  between  Rube  and  himself, 
the  wily  outlaw  was  planning  another  train  rob- 
bery. 

It  was  suggested  to  Brock,  alias  Jackson,  a  few 
days  after  his  arrest,  that  all  of  Rube's  partners 
being  captured  he  would  doubtless  recruit  his 
forces  before  robbing  another  train.  Brock  replied, 
"If  Rube  takes  a  notion  to  rob  a  train  by  himself, 
he  will  do  it." 

When  it  was  reported,  therefore,  that  the  north- 
bound express  on  the  Louisville  and  Nashville 
Railway  had  been  boarded  on  the  night  of  Sep- 
tember I,  1890,  at  Flomaton,  Ala.,  only  about  sev- 
enty-five miles  from  the  hiding  place  of  Rube  Bur- 
row, it  was  quite  evident  that  the  bold  adventure 
was  the  work  of  the  famous  bandit. 

It  was  a  chef-cfoeuvre^  in  the  execution  of  which 
he  doubtless  congratulated  himself  That  a  man 
should,  under  any  circumstances,  successfully  hold 
an  entire  train  crew  at  bay,  and,  single-handed,  rob 
the  express  car,  is  a  deed  of  such  daring  as  to  al- 
most challenge  admiration,  at  least  for  his  daunt- 
less courage,  whatever  may  be  thought  of  his  law- 
less purpose ;  but  that  a  man  hunted  down  by  de- 
tectives, living  like  a  wild  beast  in  the  swamps, 
afraid  to  show  his  face  in  daylight  because  of  their 


RUBE   BURROW.  1 47 

dreaded  presence,  should  emerge  from  his  place  of 
concealment  and  rob  the  very  corporation  whose 
sleuth  hounds  had  tracked  him  to  his  lair,  be- 
tokens a  degree  of  audacity  unparalleled  in  the 
history  of  crime  or  the  realms  of  fiction.  Rube  is 
credited  with  possessing  a  sense  of  the  ridiculous, 
inherent  in  the  Burrow  family,  and  doubtless  this 
turning  of  the  tables  on  his  would-be  captors  ap- 
pealed strongly  to  his  sense  of  humor,  if,  indeed, 
the  dare-devil  deed  was  not  inspired  thereby. 

The  train  pulled  into  the  station  of  Flomaton 
about  ten  p.  m.,  where  it  was  delayed  some  twenty 
minutes  in  awaiting  the  Pensacola  connection. 
Meantime  a  tall  man,  coarsely  dressed,  was  seen 
to  mount  the  steps  of  the  express  car,  next  the  en- 
gine, and  look  in  upon  the  messenger  through  the 
glass  door  in  the  end  of  the  car.  When  he  came 
down  from  the  car  he  was  seen  to  have  a  coal  pick, 
which  he  had  taken  from  the  tender  of  the  engine. 
A  few  minutes  afterward,  just  as  the  train  was 
pulling  out,  he  ran  toward  the  engine  and  mounted 
it.  The  yard-master  observed  these  movements, 
but  simply  thought  the  man  was  some  employe 
of  the  railway. 

Before  the  train  was  fairly  under  headway  the 
engineer,  facing  about,  saw  himself  and  fireman 
covered  by  two  revolvers  in  the  hands  of  a  man 
whose  face  was  masked  and  who  held  under  his 
arm  a  coal  pick. 

"Pull  ahead  and  stop  the   train  with  the  ex- 


148  RUBE   BURROW. 

press  car  on  the  north  side  of  Escambia  River 
bridge,  or  I  will  blow  the  top  of  your  head  oflf," 
was  the  stern  command. 

"All  right,  Captain,"  said  the  engineer. 

The  bridge  was  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile 
north  of  the  station.     While  en  route ^  Rube  said: 

"  If  you  obey  my  orders,  I  will  not  harm  you, 
but  the  penalty  is  instant  death  if  you  disobey." 

On  arriving  at  the  bridge  the  sharp  command 
"Stop!"  was  given,  and  the  engineer  instantly 
complied. 

"Get  down,"  said  Rube  to  the  engineer  and  fire- 
man, and  he  followed  the  two  men  to  the  ground. 

The  colored  fireman,  as  soon  as  he  reached 
terra  firma^  made  instant  flight  from  the  scene. 
Rube  fired  two  shots  at  him  as  he  fled,  which  had 
no  other  effect,  however,  than  to  increase  his 
speed. 

When  called  upon  afterwards  to  explain  the 
cause  of  his  retreat,  the  darkey  replied  : 

"I  thought  I  heerd  him  say  run,  and  as  we  was 
all  'beyin'  orders,  I  run." 

Rube  now  ordered  the  engineer  to  take  the  coal 
pick  which  he  gave  him  and  break  in  the  front 
door  of  the  express  car.  While  the  engineer  was 
engaged  in  doing  so.  Rube,  standing  on  the  plat- 
form of  the  car  behind  him,  fired  five  shots  into 
the  air  on  the  one  side,  and  four  shots  on  the 
other  side,  and  by  this  ruse  made  it  appear  that 
the  woods  were  full  of  robbers. 


RUBE   BURROW.  149 

Johnson,  the  messenger  of  the  Southern  Ex- 
press Company,  stood  on  the  floor  of  his  car,  pistol 
in  hand,  as  the  engineer  entered,  the  door  being 
broken  through,  and  manifested  a  disposition  to 
resist  the  attack  upon  his  car.  Rube,  however, 
standing  in  the  doorway,  covered  him  with  his  two 
Colt's  revolvers,  and  threatening  to  shoot  both 
engineer  and  messenger,  the  latter,  being  entreated 
also  by  the  engineer,  like  Ben  Battle,  of  old,  "laid 
down  his  arms." 

Rube  threw  a  sack  to  the  engineer,  not  trusting 
himself  to  cross  the  portals  of  the  doorway  in 
which  he  stood,  and  bade  him  hold  it,  while  the 
messenger  was  ordered  to  place  within  it  the  con- 
tents of  his  safe.  The  messenger  complied,  but 
the  bulk  of  the  matter  placed  in  the  sack  was  so 
small  that  Rube  insisted  he  had  not  received  all. 
The  messenger,  taking  from  his  safe  a  book,  said : 

"This  is  all — do  you  want  this?  " 

"  No,"  said  Rube,  "  don't  put  that  in." 

"Give  me  your  pistol,"  then  said  Rube,  "  butt 
end  foremost." 

The  messenger  complied,  and  Rube  backed  out 
of  the  car,  saying  to  the  messenger  and  engineer: 

"If  you  poke  your  heads  out  of  the  car  before  I 
get  out  of  sight,  I  will  shoot  them  off." 

The  work  was  done  so  quickly  that  the  passen- 
gers were  hardly  aware  of  what  had  occurred  until 
all  was  over.  The  conductor,  who  came  forward 
and  entered  the  rear  compartment  of  the  express 


150  RUBE   BURROW. 

car,  which  was  used  for  baggage,  while  the  mes- 
senger was  delivering  the  contents  of  his  safe,  was 
observed  by  Rube  and  ordered  to  retreat.  Taking 
in  the  situation,  the  conductor  deemed  prudence 
the  better  part  of  valor,  and  complied. 

This  proved  to  be  Rube's  last  exploit  at  train 
robbing,  and  he  secured  only  the  pitiful  sum  of 
$256.19. 

Ofl&cers  of  the  Express  Company,  with  several 
detectives,  arrived  on  the  scene  the  next  day,  and 
it  was  soon  ascertained  that  Rube  had  gone  back 
into  Santa  Rjosa  County,  from  which  he  was  quickly 
driven  by  the  detectives,  on  the  long,  last  chase  of 
his  career. 


RUBE  BURROW.  I5I 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

RUBE  ROUTED  FROM  FLORIDA  —  THE  CHASE  INTO  MA-' 
RENGO  COUNTY,  ALA, — HIS  CAPTURE. 

'T^HE  detectives  of  the  Southern  Express  Com- 
■^  pany  were  only  a  few  hours  behind  the  out- 
law when  he  reached  his  lair  in  Santa  Rosa  County 
on  the  third  day  after  the  Flomaton  robbery.  An- 
ticipating his  return  an  effort  was  made  to  cut  oflf 
his  retreat.  Rube,  however,  had  twenty-four  hours 
the  start,  and  being  at  home  in  the  swamps,  suc- 
ceeded in  eluding  his  pursuers. 

It  was  now  determined  by  the  officers  of  the 
Southern  Express  Company  to  organize  a  posse 
under  the  leadership  of  Detective  Thomas  Jackson 
and  drive  the  bandit  from  the  swamps  of  Santa 
Rosa  and  capture  him  at  whatever  cost  and  hazard. 

Detectives  Stewart  and  Kinsler,  of  the  Louis- 
ville and  Nashville  Railway  service,  were  detailed 
to  aid  Jackson,  and  several  other  trusted  men  were 
added  to  the  posse. 

"  Go  into  Santa  Rosa  and  capture  Rube,  or  drive 
him  out,"  was  the  order  given. 

The  faithful  detectives,  willing  to  brook  any 
toil  and  brave  any  danger,  however  hazardous, 
pledged  their  best  efforts  to  carry  out  the  order. 


152  RUBE    BURROW. 

The  expedition,  having  been  provided  with  ten 
days'  rations,  quietly  set  out  for  Santa  Rosa  County 
on  the  1 2th  of  September. 

John  Barnes,  who  had  returned,  having  failed 
in  his  attempted  treaty  with  Rube,  was  the  trusted 
guide.  Leaving  the  Pensacola  and  Atlantic  Rail- 
way at  a  flag  station  south  of  Milton,  the  party  set 
out  afoot  across  the  swamps  for  Wells'  cabin,  dis- 
tant about  thirty-five  miles.  The  difficulties  which 
beset  the  journey,  however,  were  so  numerous  that 
three  days  were  consumed  in  arriving  at  their  des- 
tination. 

Reaching  the  vicinity  of  Wells'  home  soon  after 
dark  on  the  15th  of  September,  the  cabin  was  sur- 
rounded, and  sentries,  under  cover  of  the  adjacent 
cane  and  brush,  began  watch.  Morning  came,  and 
with  it  the  detectives  hoped  Rube  would  appear, 
either  to  enter  the  cabin  for  food,  or,  if  sheltered 
there  the  previous  night,  he  could  be  seen  going 
out.  Not  so.  For  three  days  and  nights  a  close 
watch  was  kept  under  circumstances  of  hardship 
and  suffering  which  sorely  taxed  the  capacity  of 
the  detectives.  Driven  by  hunger  and  thirst,  they 
finally  resolved  upon  a  strategy  which  in  time 
brought  good  results. 

About  sunrise  on  the  morning  of  the  i8th  of 
September  the  detectives  closed  in  upon  the  cabin. 
Rube  was  not  found.  It  was  evident,  however, 
that  he  was  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  A  trunk, 
containing  a  suit  of  clothing,  an  overcoat  and  some 


RUBS   BURROW.  I53 

small  articles,  was  found  in  the  cabin,  and  the  prop- 
erty was  confessed  to  be  that  of  Ward.  Searching 
the  trunk,  Jackson  found  $35  in  currency,  which 
bore  the  marks  of  having  been  stitched  while  in 
the  custody  of  the  express  company.  The  money 
being  claimed  by  Wells,  other  money  was  ex- 
changed for  it,  but  the  clothes  were  taken  in 
charge.  The  detectives  now  resolved  to  starve 
Rube  out — to  hold  his  commissary  and  prevent 
the  issue  of  any  supplies. 

While  the  detectives  were  in  ambush  about 
the  cabin,  visits  were  being  made  by  members  of 
the  Wells  household  to  Rube,  but  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  follow  these  scouts  without  disclosing  the 
presence  of  the  detectives.  The  wild  solitude  of 
the  place  quickened  the  ears  of  these  lawless  peo- 
ple to  the  least  sound,  and  the  snapping  of  a  cane 
in  the  brake  or  the  sound  of  a  footstep  was  re- 
garded as  a  signal  of  danger.  The  very  profession 
of  these  people  was  to  harbor  thieves. 

Once  in  possession  of  the  Wells  domicile  the 
detectives  put  the  whole  family  under  close  sur- 
veillance. They  virtually  made  prisoners  of  them. 
Deploying  part  of  their  forces  in  the  adjacent  cane- 
brakes,  they  swept  every  trail  for  miles  around,  and 
made  it  impossible  for  the  outlaw  to  find  food  in 
any  part  of  that  section. 

While  scouring  the  swamps  Detective  Jackson 
learned  from  a  thoroughly  reliable  source  that 
Rube  had  crossed  Yellow  River  just  above  the 
Florida  line  on  the  25th  of  September. 


154  RUBE   BURROW. 

The  order  had  been  carried  out — Rube  had 
been  routed  from  the  swamps  of  Santa  Rosa.  The 
detectives  were  at  once  withdrawn  from  Florida. 
Barnes,  the  guide,  hurried  home,  his  presence  not 
having  been  disclosed  while  in  the  Wells  neigh- 
borhood. 

Jackson  was  now  making  ready  to  strike  the 
trail  of  Rube  who,  he  felt  sure,  had  crossed  the 
Alabama  line,  when,  on  September  29th,  the  fol- 
lowing telegram  from  John  Barnes  was  received: 

"Ward,  the  man  you  call  Rube  Burrow,  took 
breakfast  at  my  house  this  morning  and  left  at 
noon,  going  by  way  of  Repton,  Ala.  Send  Jack- 
son with  sufficient  force  to  capture  him." 

The  express  official  who  received  the  message 
had  talked  with  Barnes  and  knew  that  Ward  and 
Burrow  were  identical.  There  could  be  no  mistake. 
Instant  pursuit  was  organized. 

Rube  had  called  at  the  home  of  Barnes  early 
in  the  morning  and  asked  for  something  to  eat. 
Barnes  recognized  him  instantly  as  Rube  Burrow, 
alias  Ward.  He  felt  sure  that  while  piloting  the 
detectives  in  and  about  Rube's  den  in  the  cane- 
brakes  of  Santa  Rosa  his  identity  had  been  dis- 
closed and  the  outlaw  had  come  to  seek  revenge. 
Barnes  invited  his  unexpected  and  unwelcome 
guest  in,  with  fear  and  trembling. 

Rube  being  seated,  Barnes  went  into  the 
kitchen  to  assist  his  wife  in  preparing  breakfast. 
Barnes  said  to  his  wife,  who  knew  the  history  of 
his  trip  into  Florida: 


RtTBE  BURROW.  I55 

**That  man  is  Rube  Burrow,  and  I  believe  be 
bas  come  here  to  kill  me,  and  if  be  does  so,  you 
will  know  wbo  murdered  me." 

Barnes  was  without  fire-arms  of  any  kind,  and 
although  not  wanting  in  courage,  felt  the  struggle 
with  the  armed  outlaw  would  be  an  unequal  one  if 
be  should  either  attempt  to  arrest  him,  or  if  Rube 
should  attack  him. 

Making  an  excuse  to  leave  the  bouse  for  a  few 
minutes,  Barnes  sent  a  message  to  Mr.  Johnson,  a 
neighbor  who  lived  only  a  half-mile  distant,  to 
come  to  bis  aid,  but  Johnson  was  not  at  home. 

Rube's  breakfast  was  soon  prepared,  and  as  he 
seemed  very  peaceably  inclined,  Barnes  incident- 
ally mentioned  that  he  had  worked,  in  March,  1888, 
at  a  log  camp  in  Baldwin  County.  Finally  Barnes 
suggested  that  his  guest's  face  seemed  familiar. 
Rube  replied,  "I  guess  not,"  and  refused  to  renew 
his  acquaintance  with  Barnes,  and,  as  subsequent 
events  proved,  was  firm  in  the  belief  that  Barnes 
had  forgotten  him. 

Rube  provided  himself  with  about  -  two  days' 
rations,  which  he  paid  Barnes  liberally  for,  and 
resumed  his  journey,  after  making  inquiries,  ac- 
cording to  his  custom,  for  points  in  various  direc- 
tions. 

Barnes  went  immediately  to  Castleberry  and 
sent  the  telegram  referred  to,  and  waited  there 
until  joined  by  the  express  officials  and  detectives, 
at  midnight,  September  30th. 


156  RUBS  BURROW. 

Detectives  Jackson  and  Kinsler  started  on  the 
trail  at  once.  Detective  Barnes,  of  the  L.  &.  N. 
Railway,  accompanied  them,  having  in  charge  a 
brace  of  well-trained  blood-hounds,  should  their 
use  become  necessary.  Jackson  correctly  siirmised 
that  Rube  was  making  for  Lamar  County,  and  he 
therefore  set  out  for  Bell's  Landing,  about  fifty 
miles  distant,  and  on  the  line  of  route  to  Lamar 
County. 

About  noon  the  next  day,  and  when  within  ten 
miles  of  the  Alabama  River,  the  detectives  found 
they  were  but  three  hours  behind  the  outlaw,  who 
was  traveling  in  the  direction  of  Bell's  Landing. 
Reaching  the  farm  of  John  McDuffie,  seven  miles 
from  Bell's  Landing,  Jackson  requested  his  assist- 
ance, disclosing  to  him  the  information  that  he  was 
in  hot  pursuit  of  Rube  Burrow.  McDuffie  had 
been  recommended  to  Jackson  by  the  sheriff  of 
that  (Monroe)  county  as  a  brave  and  fearless  man, 
and  Jackson  felt  that  his  assistance  would  be,  as 
subsequent  events  confirmed,  a  valuable  acquisi- 
tion to  the  posse. 

Guarding  all  the  adjacent  landings  on  the 
river  that  night,  the  detectives  were  quite  sure 
that  Rube  had  not  crossed  the  Alabama  River  at 
daylight  on  the  morning  of  October  3d.  While 
reconnoitering  in  the  vicinity  of  Bell's  Landing, 
about  ten  o'clock  that  morning  a  negro  came  with 
a  message  from  Mrs.  McDuffie  that  Rube  was  then 
eating  breakfast  at  a  negro  cabin  on  McDuffie's 
farm,  then  six  miles  distant. 


mmm. 

JOHN    MC  DUFFIE. 


RUBB   BURROW.  157 

Under  whip  and  spur  John  McDuffie  led  the 
party  back  to  his  farm.  The  cabin  was  quickly 
surrounded.  It  was  soon  ascertained  that  Rube 
had  breakfasted,  and  taking  the  only  boat  at  the 
landing  had  put  himself  across  the  river  about 
thirty  minutes  before  the  arrival  of  the  posse. 
Again  had  luck  favored  the  outlaw,  and  a  chance 
half  hour's  time  had  intervened  to  save  him  from 
certain  capture. 

It  was  discovered  that  Rube  had  made  a  bed  of 
some  brush  under  the  cliff  near  the  brink  of  the 
river  and  had  slept  there  the  previous  night.  His 
appearance  at  the  cabin  for  breakfast  was  reported 
by  the  colored  people  to  Mrs.  McDuffie,  who  im- 
mediately sent  a  courier  to  her  husband.  A  few 
minutes  after  the  posse  reached  the  cabin,  Mrs. 
McDuffie,  having  walked  from  her  home,  two  miles 
away,  arrived. 

"What  are  you  doing  here,"  said  her  husband. 

Mrs.  McDuffie  answered:  "Oh,  I  thought  the 
boy  might  not  find  you,  and  I  would  come  down 
and  get  a  good  description  of  Rube, 'so  as  to  help 
you  to  find  him  if  he  should  leave." 

Mrs.  McDuffie  was  escorted  by  Master  McDuf- 
fie, only  six  years  of  age.  Bravo  to  this  courage- 
ous woman.  While  all  who  know  her  do  homage 
to  her  many  womanly  graces,  let  the  brave  Mrs. 
John  McDuffie  be  laurelled  among  the  bravest  of 
the  matrons  of  the  South. 

An  accurate  description  of  Rube  was  obtained 


158  RUBK   BURROW. 

^om  the  colored  people,  who  reported  that  he  had 
three  pistols  and  a  rifle. 

The  detectives  were  obliged  to  go  down  the 
river  six  miles  before  they  could  cross.  Pushing 
forward,  they  crossed  the  Alabama  River  with  all 
possible  dispatch.  Hoping  that  Rube  would  leave 
the  swamps  after  crossing  the  river  and  take  the 
one  public  highway  leading  towards  Demopolis,  a 
covered  wagon  was  hired.  Into  this  wagon  the 
detectives  and  McDuffie  crowded  themselves  and 
ordered  the  driver  onward.  The  pursuit  was  now 
hot  and  success  seemed  certain.  Every  moment 
the  posse  expected  to  receive  from  the  driver  the 
preconcerted  signal  that  the  fugitive  had  been 
overtaken,  when  they  would  cover  him  with  their 
guns  and  demand  his  surrender. 

In  eager  expectancy  the  detectives  journeyed 
for  ten  miles  by  wagon,  and  until  darkness  ended 
all  hope  of  overtaking  the  outlaw  that  day.  Send- 
ing back  for  their  horses,  the  chase  was  resumed 
next  morning  on  horseback. 

When  within  two  miles  of  Thomasville,  Ala., 
Saturday,  October  4th,  the  pursuing  party  found 
Rube  only  two  hours  ahead.  From  this  point  tel- 
egrams were  sent  to  the  express  officials,  who  re- 
paired to  Demopolis,  Ala.,  feeling  confident  that 
Rube  was  en  route  to  Lamar  County,  and  would 
cross  the  Tombigbee  River  in  that  vicinity. 

Jackson  pursued  the  trail  in  every  possible  di- 
rection from  Thomasville,  and  confirmed  his  theory 


RUBE  BURROW.  159 

that  Rube,  traveling  under  cover  of  the  woods, 
was  avoiding  the  public  highways.  He  therefore 
deemed  it  best  to  ride  into  Demopolis,  thirty-five 
miles  distant,  that  night,  and  organize  other  possees 
and  guard  all  the  adjacent  river  landings. 

Early  Sunday  morning,  October  5th,  found  the 
ofl&cers  of  the  Express  Company  and  the  detectives 
in  conference  at  Demopolis.  It  was  decided  to  or- 
ganize in  a  quiet  way  additional  possees  to  guard 
the  river  landings  and  to  search  the  northern  dis- 
trict of  Marengo  County,  in  which  it  was  certain 
the  outlaw  had  gone.  Scores  of  the  good  people 
of  that  section  joined  in  the  chase. 

Marengo  County,  by  Sunday  night,  had  been 
organized  into  one  vast  army  of  detectives.  At 
daylight  on  Monday  morning  it  was  known  that 
Rube  had  not  crossed  the  river.  The  search  was 
therefore  renewed  with  unceasing  vigilance. 
Knowing  that  the  outlaw  was  apt  to  visit  a  negro 
cabin  for  food,  the  white  planters  were  apprised  of 
the  situation  and  were  especially  enjoined  to  put 
their  colored  employes  on  watch. 

About  midnight  on  Monday,  Jackson  and 
McDuffie  returned  to  Demopolis,  and  no  tidings 
of  the  outlaw,  up  to  that  hour,  had  been  received. 
However,  about  three  o'clock  a.  m.,  Tuesday,  a 
courier,  sent  by  Mr.  D.  J.  Meadow,  brought  the 
news  that  Rube  had  been  seen  about  dark  three 
miles  from  Beckley's  Landing,  about  eighteen 
miles  south  of  Demopolis.     It  was  surmised  that 


l6o  RUBE   BURROW. 

the  outlaw,  being  so  close  to  the  river,  would  pos- 
sibly cross  that  night. 

Jackson  went  down  on  the  west  side  of  the 
river,  while  McDufl&e  took  the  east  bank.  While 
en  route,  McDuffie  was  joined  by  J.  D.  Carter,  who, 
infused  by  the  spirit  that  prevailed  among  the 
good  people  of  that  section,  expressed  a  desire  to 
assist  in  the  chase.  McDuffie  and  Carter  joined 
each  other  at  noon,  and  deploying  the  men  under 
him  through  the  bottoms,  McDuffie  was  soon  alone 
with  Carter. 

Meantime  Jesse  Hildreth,  a  very  worthy  and 
reliable  colored  man,  had  discovered  Rube  in  an 
abandoned  cabin  Tuesday  morning.  Hildreth 
had  noticed  smoke  arising  from  the  cabin  chimney 
the  night  previous,  and  repairing  thither  early 
next  morning  found  the  outlaw  asleep.  He  woke 
him  and  at  once  recognized  the  fugitive  described 
to  him  the  previous  day.  Rube  said  he  was  hunt- 
ing work,  and  asked  Jesse  to  get  him  some  coffee. 
Jesse,  pretending  to  be  in  search  of  his  horse,  told 
Rube  he  would  go  by  home  and  order  coffee  sent 
him.  Jesse  kept  watch  on  the  cabin,  and  find- 
ing Rube  about  to  depart,  rejoined  him  at  the 
cabin  and  endeavored  to  detain  him  by  selling 
Rube  his  horse.  Rube,  however,  did  not  want  to 
buy  a  horse,  and  asked  the  way  to  Blue  Lick. 
Jesse,  determined  to  keep  Rube  in  sight,  offered  to 
go  and  show  him  the  way.  Rube  mounted  Jesse's 
horse,  while  the  latter  walked. 


RUBE  BURROW.  l6l 

About  noon,  while  passing  the  house  of  a  col- 
ored man,  George  Ford,  Jesse  suggested  to  Rube, 
as  it  had  begun  to  rain  very  hard,  to  stop  and  get 
dinner,  and  wait  till  the  rain  should  be  over.  To 
this  Rube  consented.  While  dinner  was  being 
prepared,  Jesse,  on  the  alert  for  "some  of  the 
bosses,"  as  he  expressed  it,  went  out  of  the  house. 
Frank  Marshal,  a  colored  man,  who  was  also  look- 
ing for  the  stranger,  at  this  moment  rode  up  to  the 
cabin.  Jesse  quickly  explained  that  the  man  was 
in  Ford's  house,  and  while  the  coloied  men  were 
in  conference  they  discovered,  to  their  great  joy, 
two  white  men  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant, 
riding  in  their  direction.  Joining  them  at  the  foot 
of  the  hill  the  two  men  proved  to  be  McDuffie  and 
Carter. 

Ford's  cabin  was  in  an  open  field,  and  McDufl&e 
and  Carter  found  they  could  not  approach  it  within 
less  than  two  hundred  yards  without  being  seen. 
It  was  agreed  that  Jesse  and  Frank  should  go 
ahead,  enter  the  cabin,  seize  the  outlaw,  and  give 
the  signal  to  McDuffie  and  Carter,  who  would  ap- 
proach cautiously  under  cover. 

Entering  the  cabin,  the  negroes  found  Rube 
making  ready  for  his  departure,  having  eaten  din- 
ner. He  was  wholly  unsuspicious,  of  anything 
wrong  in  the  movements  of  the  colored  men,  how- 
ever. Rube  was  in  the  act  of  wrapping  his  trusty 
Marlin  rifle  in  an  oil  cloth,  when  Jesse  said : 

"Boss,  let  me  wrap  it  for  you." 


1 62  RUBE   BURROW. 

Rube  handed  the  rifle  to  Jesse,  who  carefully 
wrapped  it,  and  feigning  to  hand  it  back,  dropped 
it.  Quick  as  thought  Jesse  gathered  his  great 
brawny  arms  about  the  outlaw,  and  with  a  grip  like 
that  of  an  octopus  he  struggled  for  the  mastery. 
Frank  Marshal  threw  himself  upon  the  outlaw 
at  the  same  time,  but  not  being  very  robust,  was 
not  able  to  greatly  assist  Jesse.  The  latter  was  as 
strong  as  an  ox.  His  weight  was  one  hundred  and 
eighty  lbs.,  his  height  about  five  feet  ten  inches, 
and  there  was  not  an  ounce  of  surplus  flesh  upon 
him.  He  wore  no  shoes,  and  his  great,  broad  feet 
looked  as  big  as  a  pair  of  Virginia  hams. 

"Where  was  Frank  while  you  were  struggling 
with  Rube?"  said  some  one  afterwards  to  Jesse. 

"  'Fore  de  Lord,  boss,  he  had  his  mouf  full  of 
Frank." 

Rube  had  caught  Frank's  shoulder  in  his  teeth, 
while  Jesse  grappled  with  him.  Biting  Frank  and 
stamping  Jesse's  bare  feet,  the  outlaw  struggled 
with  herculean  strength  for  liberty.  He  dragged 
his  captors  across  the  floor  of  the  little  cabin,  shak- 
ing it  from  bottom  to  top.  The  noise  of  the  scuffle 
within  was  heard  by  McDufiie  and  Carter,  who 
meanwhile  had  been  quietly  approaching.  Just  at 
the  moment  when  Rube  was  falling  to  the  floor, 
the  colored  men  on  top,  they  rushed  in,  and  seizing 
Rube,  disarmed  him.  He  was  searched  and  tied 
before  being  allowed  to  rise.  A  Colts  revolver, 
forty-five  caliber,  and  $175  were  found  on  his 
person. 


RtfBE   BURROW.  1 63 

The  capture  was  made  about  one  o'clock  p.  M., 
eighteen  miles  from  Demopolis.  His  captors  con- 
cluded to  avoid  the  risk  of  escape  consequent  upon 
a  journey  after  dark  to  Demopolis,  and,  therefore, 
took  him  to  Linden,  the  county  seat,  only  nine 
miles  distant. 

Rube  was  made  to  mount  McDuffie's  horse, 
with  his  hands  tied  in  front,  his  arms  pinioned  by 
tight  cords  to  his  body,  and  his  feet  tied  under- 
neath the  animal.  McDuffie  mounted  behind  the 
prisoner,  and,  escorted  by  Carter  and  the  two  col- 
ored heroes,  Hildreth  and  Marshal,  the  party  set 
out  for  Linden,  reaching  there  just  at  dark.  The 
great  desperado  was  in  the  toils  of  his  pursuers  at 
last.  He  was  destined,  however,  in  a  short  time,  to 
outwit  his  captors,  and  to  perform  the  last  and 
most  daring  exploit  of  his  career. 


l64  RUBE   BURROW. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

XUBE'S  IvAST  desperate  act — ESCAPE  FROM  JAIL — THE 
DEADLY  DUEL  ON  THE  STREETS  OF  LINDEN — THE 
OUTLAW   KILLED. 

/^N  arrival  at  Linden,  the  sheriff  being  absent 
^-^  with  the  keys,  the  prisoner  was  taken  to  a 
room  of  the  jail.  The  ropes  still  bound  his  hands, 
heavy  iron  shackles  were  locked  around  his  ankles, 
and  the  chain  uniting  them  was  securely  fastened 
to  the  floor. 

McDufiie  repaired  to  the  telephone  office  and 
reported  the  capture  to  the  express  officials  at  De- 
mopolis.  After  obtaining  a  full  description  of  the 
outlaw  from  McDuffie,  and  being  satisfied  the  right 
man  had  been  captured,  McDuffie  was  asked: 

"  How  many  pistols  had  he?" 

"Only  one,"  said  McDuflBe. 

"There  must  be  some  mistake,"  answered  the 
express  official;  "he  had  three  when  he  crossed 
the  Alabama  River." 

"Rube  says  he  has  sold  the  other  two,"  was 
the  answer. 

"Rube  never  sells  pistols,"  replied  the  official, 
and  knowing  from  the  reports  received  that  Rube 
always  carried  a  sack,  the  inquiry  was ; 


*UBE   fiURKOW.  165 

"What's  in  the  sack?" 

"Nothing  but  provisions,"  answered  McDuffie. 

The  official  then  instructed  McDuffie  to  hand- 
cuff and  shackle  the  prisoner,  put  him  in  a  cell  of 
the  jail  and  place  half  dozen  men  on  guard. 

McDuffie  replied:  "There  are  forty  men  on 
guard." 

Indeed,  the  whole  town  of  Linden  surrounded 
the  jail,  and  McDuffie's  answer  was  not,  perhaps, 
exaggerated. 

When  Rube's  supper  was  brought  his  hands 
were  untied  that  he  might  eat  and  they  were  not 
again  manacled.  Rube  sat  and  joked  with  his 
guards  and  visitors,  entertaining  them  with  his 
droll  humor,  which  seemed  never  to  forsake  him. 
His  shoes  were  badly  worn,  and  a  visitor  remark- 
ing it,  said: 

"Rube,  your  shoes  are  badly  run  down — you 
need  a  new  pair." 

"Yes,"  replied  Rube,  "some  people  always 
praise  their  shoes  up,  but  I  always  run  mine 
down." 

One  by  one  the  visitors  dropped  out,  and  at 
midnight  John  McDuffie,  Jesse  Hildreth  and 
Frank  Marshall  were  left  in  charge  of  the  pris- 
oner. Carter,  not  feeling  well,  had  retired  to 
Glass'  store,  just  across  the  street  from  the  jail. 
He  had  possession  of  Rube's  rifle  and  money. 

George  Ford,  in  whose  cabin  the  capture  oc- 
curred, found,  after  the  departure  of  the  prisoner, 


l66  RUBE   BURROW. 

a  greasy  cloth  sack,  and  knowing  it  to  be  the  prop- 
erty of  Rube,  carried  it  to  Linden,  arriving  some 
half  hour  after  the  prisoner.  He  deposited  the  sack 
on  the  steps  of  the  court-house  and  reported  the 
fact  to  the  colored  men,  who  informed  McDuflfie. 
It  was  said  to  contain  provisions. 

About  four  o'clock  A.  m.  Rube  complained  that 
he  was  hungry.     McDuffie  said: 

"You  will  have  to  await  the  usual  hour  for 
breakfast.     I  can  not  get  anything  to  cat  now." 

"Where  is  my  grub  sack?"  said  Rube. 

"George  left  it  on  the  court-house  steps,"  said 
Frank. 

"Mr.  McDuffie,  please  send  Frank  for  it.  I 
have  some  ginger  snaps  and  some  candy  in  it,  and 
I  will  give  the  boys  some  ;  I  reckon  they  are  hun- 
gry, too,"  said  Rube. 

McDufRe  consented,  and  when  Frank  returned 
he  did  not  even  look  to  see  what  was  handed  Rube. 
For  full  half  an  hour  the  wily  prisoner  sat  eating 
ginger  snaps  and  candy  from  the  sack,  which  he 
occasionally  shared  with  the  colored  men.  Watch- 
ing his  chance.  Rube  suddenly  pulled  from  the  sack 
one  of  his  trusty  pistols,  and  covering  McDuffie, 
who  sat  only  about  ten  feet  away,  said : 

"If  you  make  a  move  I  will  kill  you." 

McDuffie's  pistol  was  lying  in  a  chair  beside 
him.     Rube,  turning  to  Jesse,  said  : 

"  Hand  me  that  pistol  (juick,  or  I  will  shoot 
your  head  off." 


RUBS  BURROW.  1 67 

Jesse  tremblingly  obeyed,  and  Rube  covered  all 
three  of  the  guards  with  the  two  pistols.  He  then 
bade  Jesse  unlock  his  shackles.  This  being  done, 
he  said : 

"Now  put  them  on  McDuffie." 

McDuffie  protested  and  made  a  motion  to  ap- 
proach Rube,  but  seeing  he  was  powerless,  said : 

"  All  right.  Rube ;  you  have  the  drop,  and  can 
have  your  way." 

Rube  then  made  Jesse  shackle  McDuffie  and 
Marshal  together.  Taking  the  key  of  the  jail-yard 
door  from  the  chair  where  McDuffie  had  placed  it, 
Rube,  jumping  up  about  two  feet  from  the  floor, 
cracked  his  heels  together  and  exclaimed : 

"I  have  the  big  key  to  the  jail.  I  am  boss  of 
the  town,  and  as  some  people  say  I  am  not  Rube 
Burrow,  I  will  paint  Linden  red,  and  show  them 
who  I  am." 

He  then  ordered  Jesse  to  go  with  him  to 
find  Carter.  Carter's  exact  whereabouts  were  not 
known  to  either  Rube  or  Jesse.  To  the  hotel  and 
thence  to  the  sheriff's  office  they  journeyed,  and 
spending  nearly  an  hour  in  a  fruitless  search  for 
Carter,  Rube  thought  Jesse  was  purposely  delaying 
him. 

"I  will  kill  you,"  said  Rube,  "if  I  find  you  are 
fooling  with  me." 

Jesse,  however,  was  innocent.  He  did  not 
know  where  Carter  could  be  found.  Further  in- 
quiry  developed    that   he    was    in    Glass'    store. 


l68  RUBS  BURROW. 

Rube  knocked  loudly  on  the  door,  and  stepping 
aside,  covered  Jesse  with  his  pistol,  and  in  a  stem 
whisper  said  : 

"Tell  him  the  express  people  have  come, and 
McDuffie  wants  him  at  the  jail  quick." 

A  clerk  answered  the  call  to  the  door,  and  to 
him  Jesse  repeated  the  order  in  a  voice  loud  enough 
to  be  heard  by  Carter,  who  was  in  the  rear  part  of 
the  store.  Carter's  footsteps  could  be  distinctly 
heard  as  he  came  across  the  floor.  Just  as  he  ap- 
peared in  the  doorway  Rube  threw  himself  in  front 
of  him,  and  placing  his  pistol  within  a  few  inches 
of  Carter's  breast,  commanded : 

"Give  me  my  rifle  and  my  money,  or  I  will 
shoot  your  head  off." 

Carter,  instantly  taking  in  the  situation,  re- 
plied, "All  right,"  and  placing  his  hand  in  his  hip 
pocket,  pulled  a  thirty-two  caliber  Smith  &  Wes- 
son pistol. 

The  hour  was  just  at  dawn  of  day.  The  two 
men  stood  face  to  face,  the  one  gleaming  with  rage 
and  thirsting  for  revenge,  the  other  cool,  fearless 
and  determined,  with  law  and  justice  on  his  side, 
not  to  accede  to  the  outlaw's  demand. 

When  the  sheen  of  Carter's  pistol  flashed  upon 
Rube's  vision  the  outlaw  fired,  and  Carter,  antici- 
pating the  shot,  threw  his  body  to  the  right.  The 
ball  pierced  the  left  shoulder,  just  above  the  collar 
bone,  making  a  painful  wound.  Carter's  intrepid 
courage  was  not  dashed  by  his  wound,  and  he  in- 
stantly returned  the  fir?, 


RtJBK  BURROW.  l6^ 

Rube,  for  the  first  time  in  all  his  career  of 
crime,  was  called  to  stand  and  fight.  He  had 
"held  the  drop"  on  many  a  field  of  rencontre,  but 
here  was  an  even  gauge  of  battle,  with  the  ^ut 
vive  as  the  vantage  ground  for  him. 

Carter  boldly  advanced  upon  the  outlaw,  and, 
with  steady  nerve,  pressed  the  trigger  of  his  faith- 
ful revolver,  but  Rube  backed  away  after  the  first 
shot  from  Carter's  pistol,  and  continued  backing 
and  firing  until  he  had  retreated  some  thirty 
paces,  and  until  he  himself  had  fired  five  shots. 
Just  as  Carter  fired  his  fourth  round.  Rube  turned, 
and  running  some  ten  paces,  leaped  a  few  feet  in 
the  air  and  fell  prostrate  upon  the  earth,  stone 
dead. 

After  falling  upon  his  knees,  from  loss  of  blood, 
Carter  managed  to  fire  a  fifth  shot.  The  fourth 
shot  from  Carter's  pistol,  however,  had  entered 
the  upper  abdomen,  and  cutting  the  portal  artery, 
caused  instant  death.  This  was  the  only  shot  that 
hit  Rube. 

McDuffie  and  Marshal,  meantime,  by  means 
of  a  duplicate  key,  had  liberated  themselves,  and 
had  visited  several  places  in  the  town  in  the  en- 
deavor to  secure  fire-arms  with  which  to  recapture 
Rube.  Being  unsuccessful,  they  reached  the  store 
just  as  the  duel  was  ended. 

Rube  had  given  to  Jesse  the  fateful  sack  as 
they  started  from  the  jail,  and  while  the  duel  be- 
tween  Carter  and  Rube  was   in   progress  Jesse 


170  RUBS   BURROW. 

opened  the  sack,  drew  out  a  pistol,  and  rushing  to 
Carter's  assistance,  commenced  firing. 

"Stand  up  to  him,  Mr.  Carter;  I'm  gwine  to  be 
wid  you,"  said  the  heroic  Jesse.  He  fired  two 
shots,  without  efiect,  however,  and  was  the  first 
man  to  reach  the  dead  outlaw  and  take  from  his 
hand  his  smoking  revolver.  All  honor  to  Jesse 
Hildreth.  He  has  written  his  name  in  the  annals 
of  his  race  and  times  as  a  hero. 

Rube's  conduct  in  seeking  out  Carter  and  de- 
manding his  rifle  and  money  has  been  reckoned  as 
foolhardy.  The  truth  is,  however,  that  McDuffie 
had  recited  to  him  the  details  of  the  chase,  and 
Rube  knew  that  the  detectives  of  the  Southern 
Express  Company  were  within  a  few  miles,  and 
that  under  their  guidance  armed  possees  were 
scouring  the  country  in  search  of  him.  He  had 
been  told  that  the  ferry  landings  were  guarded, 
and  that  if  his  arrest  had  not  been  effected  in  the 
cabin  he  would  have  been  captured  on  his  arrival 
at  the  river  landing  for  which  he  was  en  route. 

Rube  knew  that  blood-hounds  were  in  leash, 
ready  to  be  set  upon  his  trail,  and  that  it  would 
be  impossible  to  escape  without  his  Marlin  rifle, 
which  was  in  Carter's  possession.  With  this 
weapon,  which  chambered  sixteen  cartridges,  he 
could  have  held  a  dozen  men  at  bay,  and  perhaps 
might  have  efiected  his  escape.  His  attempt  to 
regain  possession  of  it,  therefore,  was  not  fool- 
hardy, but  it  was  a  dernier  resort. 


JEFFERSON    D.    CARTER. 


RUBB  BURROW.  17 1 

Jefferson  Davis  Carter,  who  fought  the  duel 
unto  death  with  the  great  outlaw,  was  named  in 
honor  of  the  President  of  the  Confederacy.  His 
ancestors,  who  moved  from  South  Carolina  to  Ala- 
bama in  1832,  distinguished  themselves  as  soldiers 
both  during  the  American  Revolution  and  the  late 
civil  war.  Young  Carter  was  born  in  i860,  is  un- 
married, and  is  a  prosperous  merchant  in  the  vil- 
lage of  Myrtlewood,  Ala.  He  is  quiet  and  modest 
in  his  demeanor,  and  his  encounter  with  Rube 
Burrow  is  the  only  time  he  was  ever  engaged  in 
serious  combat. 

A  very  general  interest  has^  been  manifested  as 
to  the  condition  of  Carter's  wound,  and  universal 
sympathy  has  been  expressed  in  his  behalf.  He  is 
now  under  surgical  treatment  at  Mobile,  and  will 
remain  there  for  some  time.  The  ball  from  Bur- 
row's pistol,  a  forty-five  caliber,  pierced  the  upper 
part  of  the  shoulder,  passing  through  the  brachial 
plexus  of  nerves,  and  complete  paralysis  of  the  left 
arm  has  followed.  It  is  possible  that  under  careful 
antiseptic  treatment  the  functions  of  the  nerves 
may  be  restored,  and  the  use  of  the  arm  fully  re- 
gained. His  general  health  has  been  restored,  but 
he  still  carries  his  wounded  arm  supported  by  a 
bandage. 

In  a  letter  dated  October  i8th,  1890,  Governor 
Seay,  of  Alabama,  in  tendering  his  congratulations 
to  the  ofl&cials  of  the  Southern  Express  Company, 
writes: 


172  RUBB  BURRQW. 

♦'  The  running  at  large  of  the  outlaw  was  amenace  not 
only  to  the  State  but  to  this  entire  section  of  the  country, 
and  the  ending  of  his  career  of  crime  is  cause  for  congrat- 
ulation to  us  all.  Much  as  we  would  have  preferred,  by 
the  regular  course  of  law,  to  have  marked  a  more  ignomin- 
ious end,  his  hardiness,  his  readiness  and  his  desperation 
prevented  this,  but  leaves  to  us  the  very  satisfactory  re- 
flection that  there  was  found  in  the  lawful  paths  of  life  the 
courage,  the  presence  of  mind  and  the  constancy  which 
surpassed  that  of  the  outlaw  himself" 

J.  D.  Carter's  name  stands  enrolled  on  the  list 
of.  honor  as  the  finest  type  of  American  courage 
and  manhood  exhibited  in  modern  times. 

Brave  John  McDuffie-^what  shall  be  said  of 
him  and  of  his  discomfiture  at  being  outwitted  by 
his  wily  captive?  McDuffie  said  to  the  express 
official,  on  his  arrival  at  Linden,  with  whom  he 
had  talked  through  the  telephone  the  previous 
night : 

"I  can  not  look  you  in  the  face,  after  all  the 
caution  you  gave  me  last  night." 

Taking  his  hand  and  pressing  it  warmly,  the 
official  said: 

"Be  of  good  cheer,  McDuffie.  Napoleon  made 
a  mistake  at  Waterloo,  Lee  made  a  mistake  at  Get- 
tysburg, and  the  heroic  Custer  made  one  when  he 
rode  down  to  death  in  the  valley  of  the  Big  Horn. 
Greater  men  have  made  greater  mistakes  on 
greater  occasions,  and  but  for  you  the  chase 
would  not  be  over  and  the  battle  won.  '  All  is . 
well  that  ends  well.'" 


RUBE  fiURROW.  173 

McDuffie  had  joined  Detective  Jackson  on  the 
afternoon  of  October  2d.  From  that  hour  he  had 
been  to  the  fore,  riding  night  and  day  in  the  ar- 
duous chase  that  followed.  Worn  and  fagged  with 
the  toils  of  the  pursuit,  he  was  perhaps  less  watch- 
ful than  otherwise  he  would  have  been.  Humanus 
(st  errare. 

A  coroner's  inquest  was  held,  and  the  body  of 
Rube  Burrow  being  thoroughly  identified  a  ver- 
dict of  death  in  the  manner  described  was  rendered. 
After  treating  the  body  with  preservatives  it  was 
taken  to  Demopolis,  Ala.  Here  hundreds  of  peo- 
ple assembled  to  view  the  remains  of  the  great 
bandit. 

On  arrival  at  Birmingham,  at  three  o'clock  on 
the  morning  of  the  9th  of  October,  fully  one  thou- 
sand people  were  in  waiting  to  get  a  glimpse  at  the 
body  of  the  great  train  robber.  Special  ofl&cers 
were  employed  to  keep  the  morbid  crowd  at  bay. 
Photographs  of  the  body  were  taken,  and  at  seven 
o'clock  A.  M.  the  train  leaving  Birmingham  for 
Memphis  conveyed  the  remains  to  Sulligent,  Ala. 
A  telegram  had  been  sent  to  Allen  Burrow,  stating 
that  Rube's  dead  body  would  be  delivered  to  him 
at  noon  that  day  at  Sulligent.  The  father  was 
there  to  receive  it.  A  representative  of  the  South- 
ern Express  Company  said  to  him: 

"We  are  sorry  to  bring  your  boy  back  in  this 
shape,  but  it  was  the  best  we  could  do." 

"I  have  no  doubt,"  answered  Allen  Burrow, 
"that  he  was  mobbed." 


174  RUBB  BURROW. 

This  sentiment  was  diffused  among  the  friends 
of  the  outlaw,  and  finally  found  culmination  in  a 
sensational  letter  written  from  Vernon,  Ala.,  and 
published  in  the  Birmingham  Age-Herald.  The 
publication  asserted  that  Rube  had  been  mobbed, 
his  neck  horribly  broken  and  his  body  shamefully 
mutilated.  All  this,  despite  the  fact  that  the  body 
had  been  viewed  by  newspaper  correspondents  at 
Demopolis  and  Birmingham,  and  by  at  least  five 
thousand  persons  before  it  reached  SuUigent. 
The  body  and  face  bore  no  marks  of  mutilation 
and  no  wound  of  any  description,  save  the  small 
bullet  hole  from  Carter's  pistol. 

The  remains  of  the  most  famous  bandit  of  mod- 
ern times  were  buried  among  the  hills  of  Lamar 
County,  in  the  quiet  graveyard  of  Fellowship 
Church,  on  the  morning  of  the  loth  of  October, 
1890,  on  the  very  spot  where,  a  year  before,  he  had 
enlisted  Rube  Smith  as  a  member  of  his  unlawful 
band — a  strange  coincidence,  surely. 

The  train  robber's  pistols,  belt  and  Marlin  rifle 
were  taken  to  Memphis,  Tenn,,  and  the  publication 
of  the  chase  and  capture  by  a  Memphis  journal, 
accompanied  by  illustrations  of  the  pistols  and  car- 
tridge belt,  and  the  announcement  that  the  arms 
would  be  on  exhibition  at  its  office  that  morning, 
created  a  remarkable  and  unexpected  effect.  The 
rush  of  visitors  that  ensued  was  extraordinary,  and 
is  mentioned  here  merely  to  show  the  wonderful 
interest  with  which  the  career  of  Rube  Burrow  im- 


RUBE   BURROW.  1 75 

bued  all  classes  of  people.  Early. in  the  morning 
the  first  callers  were  the  newsboys,  porters  and 
clerks.  All  wanted  to  see  and  handle  the  weapons 
of  the  great  outlaw.  Later,  merchants,  bankers, 
lawyers,  shop-keepers,  all  alike  interested,  left  their 
places  of  business  to  view  the  weapons.  It  became 
necessary  to  place  the  pistols  and  belt  in  a  glass 
case  and  hang  the  rifle  beyond  reach,  and  still  the 
crowd  continued  to  gather. 

The  weapons  were  on  exhibition  for  several 
days,  during  all  of  which  time  the  influx  of  visitors 
never  ceased.  Rich  and  poor,  male  and  female, 
black  and  white,  all  were  possessed  of  the  same 
curiosity,  and  the  deeds  of  the  outlaw  were  dis- 
cussed by  some  with  admiration  for  his  courage, 
by  others  with  an  expression  of  detestation  of  his 
crimes — by  all  with  a  feeling  of  relief  that  he  was 
dead. 


X76  RtT3E  BURROW. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

TRAGIC  SUICIDE  OF  L.  C,  BROCK,  ALIAS  JOE  JACKSON — 
HE  LEAPS  FROM  THE  FOURTH  STORY  OF  THE 
PRISON  INTO  THE  OPEN  COURT,  SIXTY  FEET  BELOW, 
CAUSING     INSTANT     DEATH— HIS     LAST     STATEMENT. 

LC.  BROCK,  alias  Joe  Jackson,  was  placed 
•  in  the  penitentiary  at  Jacksoa,  Miss.,  for  safe 
keeping,  on  the  twenty-first  day  of  July,  pending 
his  appearance  for  trial  at  the  November  Term  of 
the  Federal  Court.  He  had  elected  to  plead  guilty, 
and  receive  a  sentence  of  life  imprisonment  for  the 
offense  of  robbing  the  United  States  mail  at  Bucka- 
tunna,  Miss.,  September  25,  1889,  rather  than  be 
taken  to  Duck  Hill,  because  the  penalty  of  death 
by  hanging  he  knew  would  be  his  fate.  Again, 
he  felt  that  the  outraged  friends  of  Chester  Hughes, 
the  heroic  passenger  who  had,  in  assisting  Con- 
ductor Wilkinson  on  that  fateful  night,  been  shot 
down  in  cold  blood,  would  probably  mob  him  if 
taken  there  for  trial,  and  fearless  and  bold  as  he 
was,  his  heart  quaked  within  him  whenever  the 
alternative  of  being  taken  to  Duck  Hill  was  pre- 
sented to  him.  Again  and  again  he  had  been  told 
by  the  officials  of  the  Southern  Express  Company 
that  whenever  he  repented  of  the  conclusion  he 


RUBE   BURROW.  177 

had  made  to  plead  guilty  to  the  Buckatunna  rob- 
bery and  testify  against  Smith,  that  the  confession 
he  had  made  could  be  withdrawn,  and  he  could 
elect  a  trial  for  the  murder  at  Duck  Hill. 

Meantime  Rube  Smith,  unaware  that  Brock 
had  made  a  confession,  had  notified  the  ofl&cials 
of  the  Express  Company  that  he  would  turn  state's 
evidence  against  Brock,  provided  a  nolle  pros. 
could  be  entered  in  his  case  in  the  Federal  Court, 
Rube  Smith's  proposition  was,  however,  rejected, 
but  Brock  was  told  of  Smith's  offer  to  testify 
against  him,  and  thus  he  found  the  coils  tighten- 
ing, day  by  day,  about  him.  On  August  2 2d 
Brook,  under  the  assumed  name  of  Winslow,  the 
name  he  at  first .  gave  v/hen  captured,  wrote  the 
following  letter  to  his  uncle,  at  Pleasant  Hill,  La. 

Jackson,  Miss.,  August  22,  1890. 
/.  T.  Harrell,  Pleasant  Hill,  La. 

Dearest : 

I  wrote  to  you  some  time  ago,  but  as  you  neither  come 

nor  wrote  I  will  write  again.  I  have  some  very  important 
business,  would  like  to  have  you  attend  to  and  if  you  will 
come  I  will  pay  your  expences  and  pay  you  any  price  be- 
side, the  business  I  want  you  to  do  for  me  is  to  sell  my 
land.  I  do  not  think  it  will  be  any  trouble  to  sell  it  for 
the  cash,  if  you  can  come  please  come  soon,  if  not  write 
and  let  me  know  if  you  will  come,  remember  I  will  pay 
you  well  besids  expences.  I  am  ver>'  anxious  to  see  you  as 
I  wrote  you  before  if  you  come  come  to  the  penitentiary 
and  call  for  J.  B.  Winslov/  or  if  you  do  not  come  address 
letter  to  J.  B.  Winslow,  care  M.L.Jenkins,  Jackson,  Miss. 
My  health  is  very  bad.    Guess  it  will  puzzle  you  to  read 


iy$  RUBS   BURROW. 

this,  am  writing  on  my  knee,  not  'even  a  book  to  lay  my 
paper  on.  I  will  not  put  my  right  name  to  this.  I  am 
sure  you  will  know  the  writing  anyhow.  So  I  will  close, 
hoping  to  see  you  soon.  Respectfully  &c. 

J.  B.  WiNSLOW. 

N.  B.  Be  sure  to  come  and  come  in  a  very  few  days.  I 
want  my  land  sold  now  rite  away  and  I  will  pay  you  a  han- 
some  price  to  go  and  make  the  trade  for  me.  Come  as 
soon  as  you  get  this.  Goodbye,     Your  friend. 

Mr.  Harrell  called  on  his  nephew,  Brock,  about 
September  ist,  succeeding  the  date  of  his  letter, 
and  for  the  first  time  learned  that  his  nephew  was 
charged  with  murder  and  train  robbery.  He  had 
no  idea  who  J.  B.  Winslow  was  until  he  met  his 
nephew  face  to  face,  within  the  walls  of  the  state- 
prison.  The  scene  was  an  affecting  one.  The 
conversation  between  the  two  occurred  in  the 
presence  of  Sergeant  Montgomery,  of  the  prison. 
Brock  made  no  effort  to  secure  counsel,  or  to  sum- 
mon any  witnesses,  but  merely  expressed  a  desire 
to  have  his  uncle  sell  his  land,  a  tract  of  two  hun- 
dred acres  owned  by  him  in  Coffee  County,  Ala., 
and  turn  the  proceeds  over  to  his  mother. 

On  the  i6th  of  October,  by  appointment,  the  U. 
S.  District  Attorney,  A.  M.  Lea,  Col.  J.  H.  Neville, 
Special  Counsel  employed  by  the  Government  to  as- 
sist in  the  trial,  and  the  express  officials,  who  were 
familiar  with  the  facts,  all  met  at  Jackson,  Miss.,  to 
arrange  for  the  approaching  trial  of  L.  C.  Brock 
and  Rube  Smith.  All  of  these  gentlemen  called 
in  company  upon  Brock,  in  his  cell  at  the  peniten- 


RUBE  BURROW.  1 79 

tiary,  and  District  Attorney  Lea  told  Brock  if  he 
had  any  witnesses  he  desired  summoned  he  would 
have  subp«£nas  issued,  and  that  he  was  free  to 
choose  as  to  whether  he  would  plead  guilty  or  em- 
ploy counsel.  Brock  then  and  there  reiterated  his 
determination  to  plead  guilty,  so  frequently  made 
prior  to  that  time  to  the  author,  and  said  he  had 
no  money,  and  did  not  intend  to  employ  any  coun- 
sel. He  said  he  was  willing  to  testify  against 
Smith,  but  remarked: 

"What  will  people  think  of  me  for  doing  that — 
see  how  the  world  looks  upon  Bob  Ford?" 

When  told  that  all  fair-minded  and  Christian 
people  would  applaud  him  for  standing  on  the  side 
of  honesty  and  truth,  he  added : 

"Well,  the  Bible  does  not  give  Judas  Iscariot  a 
very  fair  name." 

And  so  it  was  easily  discovered  that  the  ill- 
fated  criminal  was  battling  against  opposing  ideas. 
On  the  one  hand  he  was  confronted  with  the  cer- 
tainty of  conviction  and  an  ignominious  death  at 
the  hands  of  the  hangman,  on  the  other  life  im- 
prisonment, with  the  added  alternative  of  standing 
as  a  witness  against  his  copartner  in  crime  and 
assisting  to  fasten  guilt  upon  him.  He  had  often 
said: 

"I  prefer  death  to  imprisonment  for  life,  for 
what  is  life  without  liberty." 

On  Saturday,  the  8th  of  November,  two  days 
before  his  suicide,  he  said  to  a  fellow  prisoner, 
whose  hat  was  worn  and  old: 


liO  RTTBE  BUHROW. 

"You  need  a  new  hat;  you  may  have  mine 
Monday." 

Brock  had  evidently  made  up  his  mind,  as  in- 
dicated by  these  remarks,  to  take  his  own  life. 
About  nine  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  November 
lo,  1890,  the  day  set  for  his  trial,  Detective 
Thomas  Jackson  and  United  States  Marshal  Math- 
ews went  to  the  penitentiary  building  to  bring  the 
prisoner  to  the  Federal  Court,  as  he  had  been  no- 
tified would  be  done.  Sergeant  Montgomery'  sent 
the  ofl&cer  of  the  prison  charged  with  the  special 
surveillance  of  Brock  to  bring  him  into  his  office, 
where  the  detective  and  marshal  awaited  him. 
At  night  he  was  confined  in  one  of  the  cells  on  the 
ground  floor  of  the  prison,  but  was  permitted  to 
occupy  during  the  day  one  of  the  guard  rooms  sit- 
uated on  the  third  floor  of  the  building.  The  pris- 
oner was  in  this  room  when  the  keeper  went  after 
him  to  bring  him  to  the  sergeant's  office.  Just  as 
the  keeper  was  in  the  act  of  unlocking  the  door, 
Brock  walked  to  the  iron  barred  window  of  the 
room,  and  beckoning  to  a  fellow  convict  standing 
in  the  yard  of  the  prison,  threw  out  of  the  window 
the  following  note : 

November  loth,  1890. 
To  all  who  may  read  this,  I  write  this  to  inform  you 
that  my  name  is  L.  C.  Brock ;  was  born  and  raised  in  Cof- 
fee county,  southeast  Ala.  and  I  am  not  gr^ilty  of  the  crime 
for  xrhich  I  am  imprisoned.  I  am  innocent,  the  God  of 
Heaven  knows  it.  I  have  suffered  all  the  while  for  the 
crime  of  acme  one  else.    On  the  29th  of  September  I  wrot« 


RUBE  BURROW.  l8l 

to  L.  B.  Moseley,  Deputy  U.  S.  Marshal,  Jackson  Miss,  to 
come  and  get  the  names  of  my  witnesses,  he  has  not 
come  yet.  I  do  not  believe  the  letter  was  mailed  to  him 
at  all.  through  August  I  had  fever  and  nothing  to  lay  on 
up  stairs  (daytime)  but  the  floor,  fainted  25  or  35  times 
from  weakness.  I  am  telling  this  to  show  or  give  you  an 
idea  of  how  I  have  been  treated.  They  entend  to  force  me 
to  a  trial  without  my  witnesses.  You  show  this  to  any 
and  all  if  you  wish.  Respectfully, 

L.  C.  Brock. 

The  officer,  unlocking  the  room  door,  an- 
nounced that  he  had  come  to  take  him  to  the  ser- 
geant's office,  where  the  marshal  and  Detective 
Jackson  were  in  waiting  to  take  him  to  the  court- 
room. "All  right,"  said  Brock,  and  immediately 
followed  the  officer  out. 

The  penitentiary  cells  are  four  deep,  one  above 
the  other,  around  a  large  corridor,  eighty  feet  long, 
making  an  open  court  sixty  feet  deep.  When  the 
prisoner  reached  the  head  of  the  stair- way,  in  front 
of  the  door  of  his  room,  instead  of  descending  with 
the  officer  he  turned  down  the  hall-way  and  com- 
menced to  ascend  the  stair-way  leading  to  the 
fourth  floor.  At  the  same  time  he  drew  a  murder- 
ous looking  knife,  which  he  had  secured  and  se- 
creted in  some  unaccountable  manner,  and  bade 
the  guard  stand  back  or  he  would  cut  him.  Ser- 
geant Montgomery  was  at  once  notified  of  the  un- 
usual conduct  of  the  prisoner,  and,  in  company 
with  Detective  Jackson  and  Marshal  Mathews, 
iaunediatdy  repaired  to  the  rotunda  of  the  court 


lS2  RUBE   BURROW. 

and  inquired  of  the  prisoner  what  he  meant  by 
such  conduct.  Brock  was  then  calmly  walking  to 
and  fro  along  the  floor  of  the  fourth  story  brandish- 
ing his  knife,  and  at  once  declared  his  intention  to 
jump  to  the  ground  beneath  and  kill  himself. 
Meantime  the  note  thrown  from  the  window  had 
been  handed  to  the  officers  of  the  prison,  and  Brock 
was  asked  to  name  the  party  to  whom  he  had 
given  letters,  asking  that  witnesses  be  summoned. 
This  he  refused  to  do,  but  stated  that  the  Southern 
Express  Company  intended  to  "railroad"  him  either 
to  the  gallows  or  to  life  imprisonment  without  giv- 
ing him  even  the  shadow  of  a  showing,  whereupon 
Marshal  Mathews  assured  him  that  he  should  not 
go  to  trial  without  counsel,  and  further  stated  that 
he  would  see  that  all  the  witnesses  he  desired 
should  be  summoned. 

Brock  refused  to  come  down,  and,  despite  the 
assurances  and  entreaties  of  the  officers,  continued 
to  repeat  his  intention  to  take  the  fatal  leap.  The 
stern  and  determined  expression  upon  the  desper- 
ate man's  face,  his  cool  and  collected  demeanor, 
convinced  all  who  saw  and  heard  him  that  an 
awful  tragedy  would  soon  be  enacted. 

At  this  juncture  the  prisoner  placed  a  table 
near  the  balcony  railing,  mounted  it,  declared  he 
was  alone  and  friendless  in  the  world,  and  preferred 
death  to  life  imprisonment.  He  asked  that  his 
uncle,  Mr.  Harrell — then  at  Jackson,  although  the 
prisoner  did  not  know  it — be  telegraphed  the  in- 


RUBE    BURROW.,.  183 

fonnation  of  his  death,  and  that  his  body  be  sent 
to  his  mother. 

Sergeant  Montgomery,  meantime,  had  conceived 
the  idea  of  climbing  the  latticed  walls  of  the  court, 
and  while  the  other  of&cers  diverted  his  attention, 
would  reach  the  fourth  story,  directly  under  him, 
and  overturn  the  table,  and  before  the  prisoner 
could  regain  his  footing  he  would  pinion  him  and 
prevent  his  suicide.  Divesting  himself  of  coat  and 
hat,  the  Sergeant  climbed  as  far  as  the  third  story, 
when  he  was  prevailed  upon  not  to  risk  his  life  in 
such  a  hazardous  feat,  as  the  prisoner  would  un- 
doubtedly knife  him  before  he  could  carry  out  his 
project.     He  then  came  down. 

The  officers  vied  with  each  other  in  appealing 
to  the  prisoner's  manhood,  and  entreating  him  to 
forego  the  fatal  project.  Finally  Detective  Jack- 
son and  Marshal  Mathews  noiselessly  went  up  the 
stair-way  until  they  stood  on  the  landing  just  be- 
hind and  about  six  feet  from  the  prisoner,  urging 
him  all  the  while  to  put  away  his  knife  and  come 
down  stairs.  Detective  Jackson,  approaching  with- 
in three  or  four  feet  of  the  prisoner,  said : 

"Joe,  you  are  not  going  to  jump,  are  you?" 

*' Yes,  I  am,"  replied  the  prisoner,  and  stepping 
from  the  table  to  the  railing,  he  sprang  head  fore- 
most into  the  awful  space.  Vaulting  over  and 
over  in  his  rapid  flight  to  the  stone-covered  cor- 
ridor, sixty  feet  below,  he  fell,  crushed  and  bleed- 
ing, with  a  sound  that  reverberated  through  the 


184  RUBE   BURROW. 

long  tiers  of  cells,  from  which  the  gaping  eyes  of 
his  fellow  prisoners  looked,  in  speechless  horror, 
upon  a  tragedy  so  appalling  as  to  make  strong 
men  shudder  and  turn  pale.  The  unfortunate 
victim  of  his  own  desperation  lingered  for  about 
one  hour,  unconscious,  his  body  writhing  in  horri- 
ble contortions  until  death  ensued.  He  was  bur- 
ied in  the  prison  cemetery  at  Jackson  at  five 
o'clock  on  the  evening  of  his  death. 

The  author,  having  repeatedly  visited  Brock 
while  confined  at  Jackson,  takes  pleasure  in  ac- 
quitting the  officers  of  the  State  penitentiary  of 
any  maltreatment  of  the  prisoner. 

The  prisoner  made  no  attempt  to  secure  wit- 
nesses; in  fact,  repeatedly  stated  he  had  none. 
The  statement  written  and  thrown  from  the  win- 
dow, is,  therefore,  not  entitled  to  credit.  A  few 
minutes  before  his  suicide  he  freely  confessed  to 
having  received  fair  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the 
prison  officials. 

The  following  lines  were  found  on  his  person 
after  death,  indicating  that  the  bold  outlaw,  in  his 
hours  of  retrospection,  had  garnered  the  bitter 
fruitage  of  despair  and  remorse  so  aptly  depicted: 

"  How  wise  we  are  when  the  chance  is  gone, 
And  a  glance  we  backward  cast. 
We  know  just  the  thing  we  should  have  done 
When  the  time  for  doing  is  past." 


RUBE  BURROW.  I85 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

RUBS  smith's  trial  FOR  THE  BUCKATUNNA  MAIL  ROB- 
BERY— AN  UNSUCCESSFUL  ALIBI  —  PERJURED  WIT- 
NESSES —  MASTERLY  SPEECHES  —  CONVICTION  AND 
SENTENCE. 

^npHE  tragic  and  appalling  death  of  L.  C.  Brock, 
-*-  alias  Joe  Jackson,  while  it  spread  consterna- 
tion among  his  fellow  prisoners  and  disturbed 
somewhat  the  serenity  of  the  Court,  did  not  im- 
pede the  course  of  justice.  The  trial  of  Rube 
Smith  for  the  Buckatunna  mail  robbery  was  pro- 
ceeded with  in  the  Federal  Court,  Judge  R.  A. 
Hill  presiding,  as  though  nothing  had  occurred. 
It  was  of  but  little  importance  to  the  defendant 
whether  he  should  be  tried  at  that  time  or  later. 
He  had  already  been  convicted  in  the  State  Court 
for  the  express  robbery  and  sentenced  to  imprison- 
ment for  ten  years. 

His  defense  was  conducted  in  a  skillful  and 
able  manner  by  Colonel  John  A.  Blair,  of  Tupelo, 
Miss.  The  Government  was  represented  by  Cap- 
tain A.  M,  Lea,  United  States  District  Attorney, 
who  made  a  masterly  presentation  of  the  case  in 
behalf  of  the  prosecution.  Captain  Lea  was  as- 
sisted by  Col.  J.  H.  Neville,  the  brilliant  Prosecut- 


1 86  RUBE   BURROW. 

ing  Attorney  for  the  Second  Judicial  District  of 
Mississippi.  Col.  Neville  had  successfully  con- 
ducted the  prosecution  for  the  express  robbery,  and 
had,  on  account  of  his  familiarity  with  the  facts 
and  his  recognized  ability,  been  employed  by  the 
Department  of  Justice  to  assist  in  the  prosecution. 
The  corpus  delicti  was  proved  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  conductor,  engineer,  express  messenger 
and  the  railway  mail  agent.  Neil  McAllister,  a 
very  sensible  colored  man,  in  whose  cabin  the  rob- 
bers spent  two  days  immediately  preceding  the  oc- 
currence, identified  Rube  Smith  as  one  of  the  men 
who  had  occupied  his  cabin,  and  disappeared  on 
the  morning  of  the  robbery.  W.  D.  Cochran,  an 
intelligent  farmer  of  the  vicinity,  also  identified 
Smith  as  being  in  that  locality  two  days  before  the 
train  was  robbed.  McClung's  testimony,  reciting 
all  the  details  of  the  robbery  as  given  him  by 
Smith,  was  corroborated  by  the  engineer  and  other 
train  employes.  The  letters  written  by  Smith, 
his  proposition  to  become  a  witness  for  the  prose- 
cution against  Brock,  which  was  declined,  all 
formed  links. in  the  chain  of  testimony  against  him 
which  the  skill  and  ability  of  defendant's  counsel 
could  not  weaken  or  break.  The  father  of  the 
prisoner  testified  that  his  son  had  slept  at  his  home 
in  Lamar  County  on  the  night  of  the  Buckatunna 
robbery.  James  Barker  and  Jasper  Smith,  the 
former  an  uncle  by  marriage,  and  the  latter  a  first 
cousin  of  the  defendant,  both  testified  unscrupu- 


RUBE   BURROW.  1 87 

lously  and  recklessly  in  support  of  the  alibi  sought 
to  be  established. 

As  a  fitting  climax  to  the  trial,  otherwise  fa- 
mous as  it  had  been  rendered  by  the  tragic  events 
that  had  so  closely  preceded  it,  James  Barker  and 
Jasper  Smith  were  arrested  for  perjury  immediately 
on  leaving  the  witness  stand.  The  Grand  Jury 
being  in  session  they  were  indicted  at  once,  and 
finding  that  any  defense  would  be  useless,  both  en- 
tered a  plea  of  guilty.  James  Barker  was  sen- 
tenced to  three  years'  and  Jasper  Smith  to  two 
years'  imprisonment  at  hard  labor  at  Detroit. 

Consequent  upon  the  arrest  of  the  defendant's 
witnesses  for  perjury  originated  a  good  story  on 
Colonel  Blair.  Jim  McClung,  Smith's  pal,  had 
been  confined  in  default  of  bond  in  the  jail  .at 
Jackson  as  a  witness.  When  James  Barker  and 
Jasper  Smith  were  arrested  they  sent  for  Colonel 
Blair,  who  went  to  the  jail  to  visit  them.  On  en- 
tering. Colonel  Blair  found  Jim  McClung  playing 
a  game  of  solitaire  in  the  hall  of  the  jail.  Jim  is 
wholly  illiterate,  but  was  possessed  of  a  good  deal 
of  droll  wit  that  made  him  an  entertaining  witness. 
The  following  conversation  ensued  between  Colo- 
nel Blair  and  Jim  McClung: 

Col.  B. — "Good  morning,  Jim.  How  are  you 
this  morning?" 

Jim  McC. — "Only  tolerbul,  Colonel — not  feelin* 
very  well.     How  are  you?  " 

Col.  B. — "  First  rate,   Jim,  but  I  am  not  sur- 


l88  RUBS  BURROW. 

prised  that  you  are  not  feeling  very  well.  I  don4 
see  how  a  man  can  feel  very  well  who  has  (allud- 
ing to  his  testimony  against  Smith)  put  his  friend 
in  prison,  as  you  have  done." 

Jim  McC. — "Well,  now.  Colonel,  look  here. 
Before  you  come  into  this  case  there  warn't  but 
one  of  my  friends  in  prison,  and  now  you  have 
been  a  foolin'  with  the  case  sence  last  spring  and 
you've  got  three  of  'em  in.     How  is  that?     Eh  ?  " 

The  joke  was  on  the  gifted  and  brilliant  attor- 
ney. He  had  been  powerless  to  stem  the  tide 
which  swept  his  client  and  witnesses  alike  into 
the  prisoner's  cell. 

On  the  eighteenth  day  of  November,  1890, 
Rube  Smith  was  brought  before  the  bar  of  the 
Court  by  the  marshal,  and  asked  by  the  venerable 
Judge  presiding  if  he  had  anything  to  say  as  to 
why  the  judgment  of  the  law  should  not  be  pro- 
nounced upon  him  for  the  crime  of  which  he  stood 
convicted.  The  prisoner  replied  he  had  nothing 
further  to  say,  whereupon  Judge  Hill  addressed 
him  as  follows: 

V"Mr.  Reuben  Smith,  the  crime  of  which  you 
stand  convicted,  and  for  which  it  becomes  my  duty 
as  presiding  Judge  of  the  Court  to  pronounce 
against  you  the  penalty  of  the  law,  which  is  con- 
finement at  hard  labor  in  the  penitentiary  for  the 
remainder  of  your  natural  life,  is  that  of  forcibly 
and  violently  robbing  the  United  States  mail. 
This  crime  is  the  highest  crime  known  to  the  law 


RUBE  BURROW.  I89 

of  the  United  States,  save  that  of  murder  and  trea- 
son, and  is  punished  with  the  severest  penalty  save 
that  of  death.  The  reason  therefor  is  that  the 
robber  usually  engages  in  robbery  with  the  deter- 
mination to  murder  his  victims  if  necessary  to 
carry  out  his  purpose. 

"It  is  sad  to  behold  a  young  man  like  your- 
self, who,  by  an  upright  and  virtuous  life,  might 
have  been  an  honorable  and  useful  citizen,  enjoy- 
ing the  blessings  of  the  most  refined  and  elevated 
society,  banished,  as  it  were,  from  all  that  renders 
'life  desirable.  The  evil  consequences  of  your 
crime  are  not  confined  to  yourself  For  to  save 
you  from  the  punishment  of  your  offense  no  less 
than  five  of  your  family  and  friends  have  perjured 
themselves  to  establish  an  alibi  in  your  behalf,  for 
which  offense  two  of  them  have  already  pleaded 
guilty  and  are  condemned  to  serve  terms  at  hard 
labor  in  the  penitentiary — a  punishment  the  more 
serious  in  its  consequences  because  not  cojifined  to 
themselves  alone,  but  to  their  helpless  families  and 
children  as  well.  ^ 

"Sad  as  these  consequences  are,  you  may,  and 
it  is  your  duty,  to  repent  of  your  offense  against 
the  laws  of  the  State  and  the  Nation,  and  against 
your  Maker,  your  family,  and  your  own  well-being, 
and  commence  a  new  life  by  obeying  strictly  all 
the  laws  of  God  and  man,  and  especially  the  regu- 
lations of  the  prison  in  which  you  will  be  confined. 
If  you  do  this,  in  the  course  of  time  the  President 


190  RUBE   BURROW. 

may  grant  you  a  pardon;  but  whetlier  this  is 
granted  or  not,  your  best  interest  is  to  obey  what- 
ever may  be  required  of  you,  and  also  to  employ 
all  of  the  means  that  may  be  offered  you  to  im- 
prove your  mind  and  your  morals,  and  to  make 
preparations  for  the  final  judgment. 

"I  feel  assured  that  if  you  conduct  yourself 
properly  you  will  be  not  only  treated  weH,  clothed 
and  fed  well,  but  will  receive  as  kind  treatment  as 
the  circumstances  will  permit. 

"Will  you  promise  me  that  you  will  follow  this 
advice?  (The  prisoner  replied  in  a  subdued  tone, 
"I  will  follow  your  advice.") 

"The  judgment  of  the  Court  and  of  the  law  is, 
that  for  the  offense  for  which  you  stand  convicted 
you  be  delivered  to  the  warden  of  the  penitentiary 
of  the  State  of  Ohio,  at  Columbus,  and  be  there 
imprisoned  at  hard  labor  for  and  during  your 
natural  life." 


RUBE    BURROW.  IQI 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

CONCLUSION. 

"An  honest  talc  speeds  best,  being  plainly  told." 
TF  the  reader  has  been  disappointed  in  the  fact  that 
^  the  hero  of  this  narrative  has  not  been  vested 
with  the  glamour  of  princely  wealth  ;  that  he  has 
not  been  painted  a  knight-errant  of  more  roman- 
tic type  ;  and  that  a  champion  in  the  field  of  pil- 
lage and  plunder  should  not  wear  golden  spurs  and 
a  helmet  of  brass,  the  fault  lies  not  with  the  au- 
thor, but  rather  with  the  popular  error  which  pre 
supposes  these  fallacious  results. 

The  stereotyped  question  of  all  interested  in 
his  career  has  been,  "What  did  Rube  Burrow  de 
with  his  money?" 

The  accuracy  of  the  statement  is  vouched  for, 
that  in  all  of  the  eight  train  robberies,  from  Ben 
Brook,  Texas,  to  Flomaton,  Ala.,  reckoning  his  share 
as  equal  with  that  of  his  companions  in  crime,  Rube 
Burrow  secured  not  exceeding  Jive  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars.  He  invested,  in  the  spring  of 
1887,  about  four  hundred  dollars  by  purchasing  a 
one-half  interest,  with  his  brother,  in  a  few  acres  of 
laiid  in  Texas.  Soon  after  the  Genoa  robbery  he 
purchased  far  sixteen  hundred  dollars  the  farm  on 


192  RUBE   BURROW. 

which  his  father  nov/  resides  in  Lamar  County, 
paying  four  hundred  dollars  cash  and  giving  his 
note  for  twelve  hundred  dollars.  A  few  weeks 
after  the  Buckatunna  robbery  this  note,  through  his 
father,  was  paid,  some  of  the  currency  used  being 
subsequently  identified  as  part  of  that  stolen  at 
Buckatunna.  The  residue,  the  pitiful  sum  of  three 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  was  spent  in  the 
vain  endeavor  to  avoid  the  ceaseless  purusit  organ- 
ized against  him,  and  which  made  the  latter  years 
of  his  life  an  intolerable  burden. 

In  the  autumn  of  1889  Rube  Burrow  made, 
through  one  of  his  kinsmen,  a  proposition  to  the 
officers  of  the  Southern  Express  to  surrender,  upon 
the  condition  that  he  would  not  be  tried  for  the 
murder  of  Hughes  or  Graves.  The  proposition 
was,  of  course,  promptly  declined. 

L.  C.  Brock,  alias  Joe  Jackson,  stated,  after  his 
arrest,  that  he  had  at  one  time  made  up  his  mind 
to  seek  an  interview  with  Detective  Jackson,  wdth  a 
view  of  making  some  conditions  for  his  own  sur- 
render, but  Rube's  proposition  having  been  de- 
clined he  gave  up  the  project. 

Although  lawless  by  instinct,  training  and  am- 
bition, these  men  had  drunk  the  bitter  cup  of  crime 
to  the  dregs,  and  longed,  no  doubt,  to  enfranchise 
themselves  from  the  toils  that  beset  them,  and 
which,  like  an  avenging  Nemesis,  pursued  them 
to  the  end. 

The  Southern  Express  Company  expended,  in- 


RUBE   BURROW.  1 93 

dependently  of  all  rewards,  about  twenty  thousand 
dollars  in  the  hunting  down  of  this  band  of  train 
robbers.  The  total  rev»^ards  offered  for  Rube  Bur- 
row amoimted  to  about  $3,500.  The  rewards  of 
$1,000  by  the  United  States  Government,  and  $350 
by  the  State  of  Mississippi,  have  been,  so  far,  with- 
held, because  the  language  of  the  statutes,  both 
Federal  and  State,  under  which  the  rewards  were 
offered,  required  conviction  in  the  courts. 

Inspector  A.  G.  Sharp,  of  the  United  States 
Postal  Service,  who  has  been  very  zealous  in  urg- 
ing that  the  rewards  offered  by  the  Government 
be  paid,  writes  under  date  of  December  17,  1890, 
as  follows: 

•'  While  in  Washington  recently,  I  laid  the  matter  of 
reward  for  Rube  Burrow  and  Joe  Jackson  before  the  Post- 
master-General and  the  Chief  Inspector,  and  strongly  urged 
*hat  the  rewards  for  both  be  paid,  and  tlie  question  of  con- 
viction be  waived.  I  believe  the  claims  to  be  just,  and 
that  good  policy  suggests  prompt  payment.  I  feel  satis- 
fied that  the  Postmaster-General  will  accept  my  advice  in 
the  matter,  and  that  the  rewards  for  both  will  be  paid  in 
full.  Of  this,  however,  I  can  not  speak  positively ;  but 
from  the  reply  made  by  the  Postmaster-General,  to  my 
earnest  solicitation,  I  feel  justified  in  saying  that  I  have 
strong  reasons  for  believing  that  he  will  make  the  order 
allowing  the  rewards." 

All  Other  rewards  for  Rube  Burrow  have  been 
paid  to  Carter  and  his  associates.  The  rewards  for 
Brock  and  Smith,  excepting  those  offered  by  the 
Government  and  the  State  of  Mississippi,  have 
also  been  paid  to  the  parties  interested. 


194  RUBE   BURROW. 

William  Brock,  of  Texas,  was  in  nowise  related 
to  L.  C.  Brock.  The  two  men  never  met,  and  that 
two  of  Burrow's  clansmen  bore  the  same  name  was 
merely  a  coincidence. 

The  question  recurs,  "Does  train-robbing  pay?" 

Here  were  men  whose  untoward  inclinings,  fos- 
tered by  evil  association,  inflamed  them  with  a 
passion  for  lawlessness.  Their  brawny  arms  were 
uplifted  against  the  laws  of  God  and  man  for  am- 
bition's sake.    They  loved  pillage  for  booty's  sake. 

Behold  the  hapless  fate  of  the  five  men  who 
linked  their  fortunes  together,  commencing  with 
the  date  of  the  Genoa  robbery  in  December,  1887. 
William  Brock,  although  sentenced  to  a  short  term 
of  imprisonment,  will  carry  to  his  grave  the  stigma 
of  an  ex-convict.  Rube  Smith  has  entered  the 
gloomy  portals  of  a  prison,  in  which  he  is  doomed 
to  spend  the  remaining  days  of  his  life — a  fate 
more  horrible  than  death. 

Rube  Burrow,  Jim  Burrow  and  L.  C.  Brock  lie 
in  unhallowed  graves,  their  memories  kept  alive 
only  by  the  recollection  of  their  atrocious  deeds, 
leaving  their  kindred  and  friends  to  realize  the 
bitter  truth   that 

"  The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them ; 
The  good  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones." 

Verily,  "the  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard" — 
"for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also 
reap." 


mob 


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